Little separates top trio in Smart N Fancy
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Very little separates the trio of Future Is Now, Roses for Debra, and Dontlookbackatall and, as in most turf sprints, the result of Friday’s $150,000 Smart N Fancy Stakes likely will come down to trip.
Trainer Mike Trombetta hopes the outside draw results in Future Is Now getting the stalking trip that proved effective in her upset victory over Roses for Debra in the Grade 2 Intercontinental Stakes here in June.
“This should give the rider lots more options being outside of those horses,” said Trombetta, who has Paco Lopez to ride. “If they’re in a real big hurry, that works out fine. If they’re not, that should be okay.”
The Smart N Fancy drew seven runners for the turf, but trainer Todd Pletcher said Munnys Gold would scratch to run in Saturday’s Grade 1 Ballerina going seven furlongs on dirt at Saratoga.
After defeating Roses for Debra by a head in the Intercontinental, Future Is Now finished third, a half-length behind Dontlookbackatall, in the Grade 3 Caress here July 25. In that race, breaking from post 3, Future Is Now broke sharp under Lopez and found herself in a three-ply speed duel. Future Is Now put away the other two other speeds, but was run down late by Dontlookbackatall and Danse Macabre.
“She broke running, how do you break running going 5 1/2 and drag her back without getting into traffic trouble?” Trombetta said. “He [Lopez] had to push it a little bit and paid for it. He was close to being right, but not quite.”
It may not have helped that Lopez had the whip knocked out of his hand by Irad Ortiz Jr., the rider of Dontlookbackatall, about 70 yards from the wire.
Dontlookbackatall won the Caress at 8-1 for her third consecutive victory. Ortiz was scheduled to ride Roses for Debra in that race, but that mare scratched due to a temperature. Ortiz picked up the mount on Dontlookbackatall when her regular rider, Joel Rosario, also got sick.
Friday, Ortiz is back on Roses for Debra while Rosario is named to ride Dontlookbackatall.
Roses for Debra won the Smart N Fancy last year as part of a four-race win streak in her 4-year-old campaign. In two starts this year, she won the Grade 3 Giant’s Causeway before her narrow defeat in the Intercontinental.
“Irad knows [Roses for Debra] inside and out, she loves Saratoga,” trainer Christophe Clement said. “Tough race.”
Dontlookbackatall, also trained by Clement, has reeled off three consecutive wins but “without a doubt” Clement said her effort in the Caress was her best race to date.
“Remarkable ride from Irad, he was very patient,” Clement said. “He was very confident, he waited ’til the last eighth of a mile.”
Star Guest finished sixth as the favorite in the Grade 3 Caress for Charlie Appleby whose horses have been known to improve second time out in the United States.
Lady Milagro is one who could be forwardly placed. She chased the pace in the Intercontinental and finished seventh. Lady Milagro has run twice at this meet, both in allowance races scheduled for the turf but run on dirt.
Glitter Up, absent from the races since February, looks to add to the speed element of this field.
Everyoneloveslinda, ninth in the Intercontinental, is entered to run only if the race is conducted on the main track.
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