Jumpers start card in A.P. Smithwick; $102K pick six carryover closes card
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There is no flat stakes on Wednesday at Saratoga, the only black-type race being the Grade 1, $150,000 A.P. Smithwick Steeplechase, but there is a pick six carryover of $102,004 that might pique handicappers’ interest on the nine-race card.
There are four dirt races and two scheduled for turf in the pick six sequence that begins in race 4. Here’s a look at the races:
Race 4: The white-hot Joe Sharp sends out Gardiner in this starter allowance, but it looks like he’ll have ample company on the front end of the six-furlong race. Trust Issues finished fourth in the same starter race at Churchill Downs in which Gardiner was second but was modestly bothered by Gardiner before switching to his left lead in deep stretch.
Zippy Mark should appreciate the cutback and drop in class off a fourth in the Arkansas Breeders’ Championship last out going 1 1/16 miles.
Race 5: Ilkay Kantarmaci is bringing two winners back on short rest in this starter allowance scheduled for seven furlongs on the dirt. Talkin in Cursive, who Kantarmaci claimed for $12,500 in June won a $40,000 claimer by five lengths on July 10. Gone and Forgotten goes first off the $12,500 claim – a race he won by 2 1/2 lengths – on July 13.
Race 6: Catch a Wave, making his second start off an 11-month layoff for Chad Brown, could turn the tables on Mutaawid following a narrow defeat on June 28, as the two meet in this same condition going 1 3/8 miles on turf. Vesting, a front-running allowance winner on June 22 at Aqueduct, and Crystal Quest, a grinding second to loose-on-the-lead Wolfie’s Dynaghost in the Prince George’s County Stakes at Laurel Park last out are others to consider.
Race 7: Daisy Duke, sent out by Ron Moquett, ran into a couple of toughies in her last two, including a fourth-place finish two back to Strong State, who won here on Saturday with a career-best 82 Beyer Speed Figure. Last out, Daisy Duke was second to Flash Wear, who came back to win another allowance at Ellis Park.
Beira was a sharp winner for $50,000 claiming last out at Aqueduct for Rick Dutrow. Looks First looms a live longshot off a neck defeat to Spiritual Lady at 29-1 here on July 10.
Race 8: Dutrow has the coupled entry of The Big Calhouna and Everyoneloveslinda in this second-level allowance/optional $75,000 claiming spot, but while listed as even money on the morning line, they don’t look unbeatable.
Princess Madison, who won here last year and is making her second start off the layoff for Phil Bauer, and Midtown Lights, going first out for Saffie Joseph Jr., could get the pace necessary for them to be successful.
Race 9: King Puck will carry lots of hopes and dreams of players alive in the finale, when he goes second off the layoff. Last out, he was a solid second in a race whose third-place finisher Annexperience won here by 7 3/4 lengths last Thursday.
Askingforafriend was fourth in that race with a little bit of trouble.
Deeper pockets will likely include the Brown firster Rout.
A.P. Smithwick
Trainer Keri Brion believes the summer and Saratoga bring out the best in Jimmy P, and if that holds true the 7-year-old gelding could be tough to beat in Wednesday’s Grade 1, $150,000 A.P. Smithwick Steeplechase, the first race on the card.
Jimmy P has won just one race in the last two years, but it was by 34 1/2 lengths in last August’s Grade 1 Jonathan Sheppard at 2 3/8 miles. The Smithwick, which for years had been run at 2 1/16 miles, was lengthened a year ago to 2 3/8 miles, another tangible that Brion feels plays to Jimmy P’s strength.
“I’m very excited about that,” Brion said. “He loves Saratoga. He’s a summer horse. He actually ran better this spring than he has in past springs. He never runs good in the spring, we just kind of get him geared up and ready for Saratoga.”
In 2023, Jimmy P finished second, beaten one length by Awakened in the Jonathan Sheppard. Awakened will be one of Jimmy P’s main rivals on Wednesday.
Brion also entered Historic Heart and Kitten Around in the Smithwick, which drew a field of eight. Brion said Historic Heart would have run in the Beverly Steinman but unbeknownst to her, the horse had to work to get off a list because he had lost his rider in the latter stages of a race last out.
“He’s good, he’s been ready for a long time, he’s done all his work with Jimmy P and it’s hard to separate them in the mornings, but Historic Heart is a very good work horse.”
Historic Heart finished second in the 2023 Smithwick when it was run at 2 1/16 miles.
Kitten Around is entered right back after being pulled up before the third fence when the saddle slipped in last Wednesday’s Jonathan Kiser Novice Stakes.
Proven Innocent and Awakened, the first- and third-place finishers from the Beverly Steinman Stakes, are back in the Smithwick.
Zarak the Brave was the favorite in last year’s Sheppard but stumbled and fell early in the race.
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