Maiden likely to be favored in Skidmore
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Horses don’t often win their maidens in stakes races, but there’s a very good chance that will be the case Thursday at Saratoga when Titan Ready and River of Deceit are likely to vie for favoritism in the $200,000 Skidmore Stakes.
The Skidmore, for 2-year-olds, will be decided at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf, weather permitting. A field of nine, including one also-eligible, was entered.
Titan Ready has been narrowly beaten while finishing second in his only two starts, with both those races coming on the synthetic track at Woodbine. River of Deceit came out second best in his only previous try late this spring over the turf at Aqueduct.
Titan Ready was purchased privately by his present connections, Qatar Racing and Fergus Galvin, and turned over to trainer Brad Cox shortly after finishing second in the Victoria Stakes on July 12. He turned in a game effort in defeat, disputing the pace and fending off a pair of early challengers before being run down at the end by Uncle Dodo, who sat a perfect trip just behind the leaders.
“He showed up here about two to three weeks ago, we got one work into him, and he went very well,” said Cox’s son and assistant Blake Cox. “He went around the dogs and breezed with an older Juddmonte filly” – Group 3 winner Tabiti – “and stayed right with her.”
The younger Cox said although Titan Ready is going up against a Skidmore field that includes five previous winners, he feels from what the horse has shown in his previous two outings that he definitely figures to be one of the major contenders.
“This is not a move we usually make,” Cox said about running a maiden against winners. “But he drew the rail in both runs at Woodbine, took pressure, and still ran on nicely. He’s got a better post this time, the field appears to be coming up light, and it looks like a good spot, if he shows up, for him to break his maiden.”
In his debut at Aqueduct on June 18, River of Deceit rallied from five lengths off the pace in the run down the backstretch to get within a half-length of the 2-1 favorite Arctic Wolf through midstretch, although he could not get past the leader in the final sixteenth. He has been working steadily here for his return under the guidance of trainer Tom Morley.
“The maiden special weight races have failed to fill twice and he has been ready to run since July,” Morley wrote in a text. “He’s a colt who shows promise in the morning and will go a bit farther in time, but we need him to race.”
Wood Island and Bettabe Tough each won their only prior start. Wood Island faced just three rivals in a race switched from the turf to the main track here on July 31. Bettabe Tough won over the turf at Monmouth Park 19 days earlier. Both led at every call.
“They took the race off the turf and he won just because he’s quick, but he’s better on the grass and I’d be looking forward to seeing him run on the grass,” George Weaver said of Wood Island, who is a half-brother to the multiple turf stakes-placed mare Arm Candy.
– additional reporting by David Grening
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