Mr Speaker gets green light for Travers
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Pleased with the way Mr Speaker has trained on dirt over the last month, trainer Shug McGaughey on Sunday confirmed the multiple turf and synthetic stakes winner a starter for the $1.25 million Travers Stakes next Saturday at Saratoga.
Mr Speaker completed preparations for the Travers on Sunday morning by working four furlongs in 47.82 seconds over Saratoga’s main track. Though he went off a bit quick, Mr Speaker, under exercise rider Lena Lorieul, still remained steady through the lane and then galloped out very strong, going five furlongs in 1:00.75 and six furlongs in 1:14.95. Mr Speaker worked in company with Ragtime, galloping away from that one around the clubhouse turn.
“One thing I’m encouraged about is any of them, when you got them [in hand] can handle everything, but when she turns his head loose to gallop out he goes ahead and gallops out as strong as he does his work,” McGaughey said. “Maybe in the race when he turns his head loose he won’t go to scrambling, he’ll go to running.”
Mr Speaker’s only previous race on dirt came in the Holy Bull Stakes, where he finished seventh. McGaughey felt perhaps jockey Jose Lezcano kept him too close to the pace that day.
Mr Speaker, a son of Pulpit, is a three-time winner on turf, including the Grade 1 Belmont Derby, in which he beat Adelaide by a neck. Adelaide came back to win the Grade 1 Secretariat on Saturday at Arlington Park. Gailo Chop, fourth in the Belmont Derby, won a Group 3 race at Deauville in France on Friday.
“I know he’s good on the grass. I’m not opposed to giving him another opportunity on the dirt going a mile and a quarter; we’ll know he’ll do that,” McGaughey said.
Lezcano will ride Mr Speaker in the Travers.
A field of 11 is expected for the Travers when entries are taken and post positions drawn 6 p.m. Tuesday at a downtown Saratoga restaurant, Druthers.
C J’s Awesome, a maiden winner going 1 1/4 miles at Churchill Downs on June 27, is expected to enter though trainer Ken McPeek said he would not make a final decision until Tuesday. He does have Edgar Prado lined up to ride. C J’s Awesome most recently finished second in a first-level allowance race at Saratoga on July 26.
In 2012, McPeek made a late decision to run Golden Ticket in the Travers and the 33-1 longshot dead-heated for win with Alpha.
On Sunday, trainer Ian Wilkes worked his pair of Travers starters, Ulanbator and Viva Majorca. He also finalized jockey assignments for both with Brian Hernandez named to ride Ulanbator and Julien Leparoux to ride Viva Majorca.
Ulanbator, fifth in the Jim Dandy, worked five furlongs in 1:01.69, getting his final quarter in 24.10 seconds under Hernandez early Sunday morning.
Wilkes called the work solid and said that Ulanbator may have been kept too close to the pace in the Jim Dandy, where he finished 9 1/4 lengths behind Wicked Strong.
“I rode him a little too close the last time. Maybe I got to be a little more patient with him,” Wilkes said. “He’s a nice horse. I wouldn’t underestimate him, but he’s got to step up and put his big boy shoes on and see if he’s good enough.”
After the renovation break, Viva Majorca worked five furlongs in 1:00.52 under Leparoux, getting his final quarter in 23.43. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.67.
“He did everything I wanted, he finished very strong, and galloped out good,” Wilkes said. “The biggest thing is we’re giving up a lot of seasoning. He’s had one stakes race, one two-turn race. Now we’re stepping into the deep end. This will be a real test for him but the horse has untapped potential.”
The Travers field, with riders, is expected to be: Bayern (Martin Garcia); C J’s Awesome (Prado); Charge Now (Junior Alvarado); Commanding Curve (Shaun Bridgmohan); Kid Cruz (Irad Ortiz Jr.); Mr Speaker (Lezcano); Tonalist (Joel Rosario); Ulanbator (Hernandez); V.E. Day (Javier Castellano); Viva Majorca (Leparoux); and Wicked Strong (Rajiv Maragh).