Joseph O'Brien to have small stable at Saratoga; runs Agartha in Belmont Oaks
ELMONT, N.Y. – That Joseph O’Brien is represented in one of the Grade 1 turf stakes for 3-year-olds to be run at Belmont Park this Saturday is no surprise. That O’Brien plans to base a small string of horses at Saratoga this summer is certainly a pleasant one.
O’Brien, based in Ireland, said Sunday he will have six stalls in Saratoga this summer, marking the first time he will have an extended presence at a North American track.
O’Brien said some of his clients expressed interest in racing at Saratoga this summer. One of those clients is Peter Brant, who has the bulk of his U.S.-based horses with trainer Chad Brown. Another of O’Brien’s clients is Magnolia Racing, a syndicate run by Justin Casse, which owns horses in partnerships with Marc Detampel and Fergus Galvin.
“It’s mostly trying to put our horses in the right spot,” O’Brien said by phone from Ireland. “Obviously, there’s great prize money there and it’s really competitive racing. We want to do the right thing by our clients. When we have the opportunity to race somewhere like Saratoga for good money, it’s a pleasure to take part in a meeting like that.”
O’Brien said he is still finalizing which horses he plans to send over, but did mention a pair of maiden 2-year-olds he is planning to send. Alexis Zorba, a Great Britain-bred son of Zoustar owned by Brant, has finished second in both of his starts, one on turf and one on all-weather. Reckoning Force, owned by Magnolia, Detampel, and Galvin, is a Kentucky-bred son of Air Force Blue out of the dam Rue Cambon, herself a half-sister to the U.S. Grade 1 winner Gorella. Reckoning Force finished third in his lone start.
O’Brien said he plans to run a few 2-year-olds in trial races this week in Ireland, which will help determine which other horses he may send to Saratoga.
Agartha could be part of O’Brien’s Saratoga sextet depending how she fares in Saturday’s $700,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational, which drew a field of 10. Agartha, an Irish-bred daughter of Caravaggio, is 2 for 11 and is coming off a fifth-place finish in the Irish 1000 Guineas on May 22. She has never raced beyond a mile. The Belmont Oaks is run at 1 1/4 miles.
“We’re hopeful,” O’Brien said about the distance. “She’s from a middle-distance family, she’s obviously competed here at a high level. She’s trained well. We’re looking how she gets on at a distance.”
John Velazquez will ride Agartha, who is owned by Scott Heider.
Others entered in the Oaks are Cairo Memories, Concert Hall, Consumer Spending, Haughty, Hot Queen, Know Thyself, McKulick, New Year’s Eve, and With the Moonlight.
The Saratoga meet offers plenty of turf opportunities for 3-year-old fillies highlighted by the Grade 1, $1 million Saratoga Oaks Invitational at 1 3/16 miles. There are also the Grade 3, $175,000 Lake George at a mile on July 22 and the Grade 2, $200,000 Lake Placid at 1 1/16 miles on Aug. 20.
Last year, O’Brien won the Saratoga Derby with State of Rest, who has gone on to add Group 1 prizes in the Cox Plate, the Prix Ganay and, most recently, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot to his résumé.
O’Brien said State of Rest is possible for the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood on July 27 or the Jacques le Marois at Deauville in August. O’Brien indicated a trip to the U.S. “remains to be seen” as his fall target is a repeat try in the Cox Plate.