Look out for longer-price Brion horse in A.P. Smithwick

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Salted Carmel will be the lesser regarded of trainer Keri Brion’s two runners in Wednesday’s Grade 1, $150,000 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Handicap Steeplechase at Saratoga, but Brion thinks the 5-year-old gelding by Kitten’s Joy could be a live longshot in the 2 3/8-mile race over nine fences.

McTigue, coming off a one-length victory in the Grade 1 Leo O’Brien Handicap on July 5, will likely go favored in the Smithwick, but he must carry a hefty 156 pounds, conceding 10 to 14 pounds to six of his seven rivals. Fil Dor, a Grade 1 winner last fall, carries 158 pounds.

Salted Carmel is only 1 for 4 over jumps, but Brion believes the 5-year-old gelding may be better suited for the races run at a regular track.

“He’s not that big, he’s like a little sports car, he’ll like the tight track,” said Brion, who won last year’s Smithwick with Historic Heart. “Some of these other horses, this isn’t what their game is. He’s in with light weight, he’s doing good right now. Run them when they’re good.”

In with 142 pounds, Salted Carmel is getting 14 pounds from McTigue. Salted Carmel’s only poor performance over jumps came in the Marcellus Frost Handicap at Percy Warner, when he ran off with jockey Stephen Mulqueen.

“The pace was really slow, he was so strong he pulled Stephen’s arms for a mile while he was trying to get him to settle,” Brion said. “He’ll love Saratoga, he can settle behind a fast pace.”

There are two horses in the Smithwick field who like to speed off to the front – Take Your Seats and Roja Redemption. That figures to aid the closers such as Salted Carmel and St James the Great, Brion’s other runner.

Brion felt St James the Great may have been compromised some by not having run a real race since March. He was pulled up in the Greener Pastures at Percy Warner on a day where he didn’t ship well.

“He seems to like Saratoga, he’s always run well up there,” Brion said. “Horses that enjoy Saratoga, run them when you can up there.”

McTigue came out of his win in the O’Brien a little foot-sore due to the firm ground, but trainer Cyril Murphy said his gelding got over that rather quickly. He is a little concerned about how much the nine-pound shift in weights between McTigue and St James the Great from the O’Brien to the Smithwick will come into play.

“The last 2 1/2 weeks he’s had solid works, he seems to be doing well,” Murphy said. “He’ll run his race, it’s whether the difference in weights will inconvenience him or not. You’d hope even with that shift in weight we may have a little advantage over him, but you don’t know until you try. Overall, I don’t think it’s the strongest race.”

Murphy does believe McTigue has improved since the O’Brien.

“He seems to have come out of it the right way, he’s progressed nicely. If it was possible to improve from the last day, he has,” Murphy said. “Someone will have to run well to beat him. If he does win, it won’t be a surprise. It’ll be a little bit of satisfaction for the gain in weight.”

Fil Dor won the Grade 1 Colonial Cup last November but is winless in two Grade 1 tries this year, including a sixth in the O’Brien. L’Avvocato and Smart Uncle look to be a cut below in here.