Layoff the question for Sunny Desert
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Is Sunny Desert ready for her best effort off the layoff? That’s the key to solving Thursday’s $100,000 Union Avenue Stakes at Saratoga, a 6 1/2-furlong dash for New York-bred fillies and mares that drew a field of six, including the 2012 winner, Risky Rachel.
From the day she broke her maiden at Aqueduct in March 2012 until the end of her 4-year-old campaign in April 2013, Sunny Desert was a perfect 7 for 7 against New York-breds while also defeating open company around two turns in the Cat Cay. Her only setback during that time came in the Grade 2 Top Flight Handicap in March 2013, when she finished third, beaten three lengths by Summer Applause.
But Sunny Desert has started just once in the last 16 months and not since finishing third behind La Verdad in the six-furlong Broadway over a sloppy track at Aqueduct on March 29, when racing for the first time for trainer Bruce Levine.
“I’d really liked to have gotten one more work into her, but she’s run well over the track, she’s breezed well over it, and we’ve got to get her started since there are some races during the fall we’re looking at,” said Levine, who mentioned the $250,000 Empire Distaff at Belmont Park on Oct. 18 as a possible target for Sunny Desert.
Sunny Desert’s last work was her best, five furlongs from the gate in 59 seconds here Aug. 10.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 3 Sunny Desert. Trainer Bruce Levine is 5 for 42 with a $1.02 ROI over the past five years in dirt races at Saratoga following a layoff of at least 45 days.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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“I wanted her to be more aggressive and do a little more, so we worked her out of the gate, and she didn’t get tired,” said Levine. “If she hadn’t worked so well, I probably wouldn’t have run her.”
Risky Rachel rallied to a 3 1/2-length victory in the 2012 Union Avenue, when the race was at six furlongs. She returned from a 15-month layoff of her own to win a pair of open stakes this winter at Tampa Bay Downs but has lost her last four starts while finishing far behind Sunny Desert in the Broadway.
KEY CONTENDERS
SUNNY DESERT (Last 3 Beyers: 78-88-90)
◗ Won her only start at Saratoga, which came off a layoff of nearly three months, in a second-level optional claimer for statebreds in July 2012.
◗ Barn owns an 18 percent success rate with horses coming off a layoff of three to six months over the past two years, according to DRF Formulator.
RISKY RACHEL (Last 3 Beyers: 89-76-68)
◗ She loves the local strip, having posted 2 wins and 2 seconds in 4 starts at Saratoga, including her easy victory in the Union Avenue two summers ago.
◗ Trainer Juan Coronel has won with just 1 of 12 starters at Saratoga since Risky Rachel captured the 2012 Union Avenue.
◗ She posted by far the highest last-race Beyer Speed Figure of any member of the field, an 89, for her second-place finish behind the odds-on favorite Willet three weeks ago.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 4 Vicki’s Dancer. Trainer Rudy Rodriguez is 4 for 17 with a $3.80 ROI over the past two years going turf to dirt and route to sprint on the NYRA circuit.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 5 Uncle Southern. Trainer Linda Rice is 5 for 11 with a $2.51 ROI over the past five years on the NYRA circuit in dirt sprint stakes restricted to N.Y.-breds, following a win.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan