Kentucky stables are back at Saratoga after skipping 2020 due to the pandemic
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Rusty Arnold first came to Saratoga in 1982, and has been a regular participant since 1987. In 2019, he had one of his more memorable meets when he won the inaugural Saratoga Oaks with Concrete Rose and the Grade 3 Troy with Leinster.
Last year, he and his wife, Sarah, who works as an assistant, skipped Saratoga owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Arnolds, like several Kentucky-based horse people, are excited to be back for this year’s meet, which begins Thursday.
“It’s been a big part of Sarah and my life since 1987,” said Arnold, who did ship in two horses to run in 2020. “Last year turned everybody upside down.”
Arnold will have 16 horses stabled in his usual Barn 70 on the Oklahoma side where he’s been for at least the last 15 years.
Among his runners will be Navratilova, who won the Tepin Stakes at Churchill Downs and who is pointing to the Grade 3, $150,000 Lake George, a race her mother, Centre Court, won in 2012. The Lake George is July 23.
Artos, a 2-year-old filly who finished fourth in the Group 2 Queen Mary at Royal Ascot, will be pointed to the $120,000 Bolton Landing Stakes on Aug. 18.
Arnold will bring up some 2-year-olds, including unnamed fillies by Nyquist and English Channel he hopes to get started during the meet.
“I’m not sitting on any superstars but I think we’re okay with some of them,” said Arnold, whose first starter comes with last-out maiden winner Yearn to Learn in Thursday’s seventh race.
Trainer Mark Casse ran 42 horses at the 2020 Saratoga meet, but he himself didn’t come.
“Everybody that was there said it wasn’t the same Saratoga and that it was depressing,” Casse said. “We’re anxious to get back.”
Casse plans to have a full barn. A new star may have emerged Saturday when Souper Sensational won the Grade 3 Victory Ride Stakes emphatically. She will be pointed to the Grade 1 Test Stakes on Aug. 7.
“She probably is just a really good come-from-behind sprinter,” Casse said after the Victory Ride.
Helium, who won the Tampa Bay Derby and finished eighth in the Kentucky Derby, could be shortened up in distance, Casse said. As a 2-year-old, Helium won his first two career starts, both at seven furlongs. Saratoga has the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens at seven furlongs on Aug. 28.
Casse was scheduled to be inducted into the Hall of Fame last summer. Instead, he will go in this year along with the class of 2021, which includes fellow trainer Todd Pletcher.
“I’ve only so far written about five sentences,” Casse said when asked if he completed his acceptance speech. “So, I’ve got to pick up the pace.”
Norm Casse, who worked as an assistant to his father, Mark, before going out on his own a few years ago, said he took the opportunity last summer to build his stable in hopes of coming back this year. He has 16 horses at the Spa, the bulk of which are 2-year-olds, including the debut winner Pretty Birdie, who runs in Thursday’s Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes.
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Casse has that horse and four or five others for Marylou Whitney Stables, which is being run by her widower, John Hendrickson. Two-year-olds he trains for other clients include Ontheonesandtwos, second in the Debutante at Churchill Downs, and Glacial, third in the Bashford Manor. Those horses are being pointed to the Adirondack Stakes and Saratoga Special, respectively.
“My focal point will be those three stakes,” Casse said. “Hopefully, they run well enough to be pointed to the stakes later on in the meet.”
In 2020, Dallas Stewart missed his first Saratoga in nearly 30 years.
“My kids have all been raised there, it’s part of our life, it’s where we go,” Stewart said. “It got wacky last year.”
Stewart, who will also have a string at Colonial Downs due to the closure of the Churchill Downs barn area for track renovation, will have 10 or 11 at Saratoga, including the debut winning 2-year-old Seize the Knight, who is pointing to Saturday’s Grade 3 Sanford Stakes.
“He’s a very nice horse who will love to stretch out,” Stewart said.
Stewart is pointing Classy John to the Troy Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong turf race on Aug. 6. A debut winner on dirt here on the 2018 Travers Day card, Classy John placed in two turf sprint stakes during the recently completed Churchill Downs meet.
Will’s Secret, third in the Kentucky Oaks, will be aimed at the Grade 1 Alabama.
Calvary Charge, a 4-year-old gelding who came off an extended layoff to win a first-level allowance race by five lengths, and the 2-year-old Brigadier General, a son of Street Sense who finished second to Gunite in a June 26 maiden race, are others who Stewart is planning to run at the meet.
Brian Lynch has brought 25 to Saratoga after missing the meet last year.
Lynch said Saratoga has “been part of our routine for a lot of years.”
“It’s good to get back and have everything being wide open and looking forward to it as far as fans and having big crowds,” he said.
Lynch is pointing Toby’s Heart to the Lake George Stakes and Gift List to the Saratoga Oaks Invitational.
Lynch’s first starter will be Skyro, who is scheduled to make his turf debut in Thursday’s third race going a mile.
“I’ve always felt he might take a step forward when he gets on the grass,” Lynch said. “He probably wants two turns. It’s a competitive race, it’ll be good to see where he fits and if he’s going in the right direction.”