Nest drills for Coaching Club American Oaks; Corniche aims for Amsterdam
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Nest, runner-up in the Kentucky Oaks and Belmont Stakes, completed her preparations for the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks here next Saturday by working five furlongs in 1:01.30 over Saratoga’s main track.
Nest went in company with Corniche, last year’s 2-year-old male champion, who is pointing to the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes on July 31.
“She continues to show good energy,” trainer Todd Pletcher said of Nest. “We were on the fence whether to go Alabama or Coaching Club-Alabama. She seemed to bounce out of the Belmont so well, it kind of made it an easy decision to run her.”
By running in the Coaching Club and Alabama, Nest is expected to meet Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Oath twice.
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Meanwhile, trainer Bill Mott confirmed Saturday that Nostalgic, winner of the Grade 3 Gazelle at Aqueduct in April, would run in the Coaching Club. Nostalgic, 10th in the Kentucky Oaks, worked a half-mile in 50.68 seconds Saturday morning in company with Jane Grey.
Butterbean and Society are the other two expected to run in the CCA Oaks.
Meanwhile, Corniche is pointing to the Amsterdam, a 6 1/2-furlong race versus 3-year-olds. Corniche hasn’t run since he won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last November, capping a 3-for-3 campaign when trained by Bob Baffert.
Corniche was transferred to Pletcher in May by owners Peter Fluor and K.C. Weiner in large part because Baffert is banned from racing in New York until next year.
Saturday was Corniche’s sixth work for Pletcher, and first at Saratoga.
“He’s an aggressive horse starting off in his works, then he relaxes in the middle,” Pletcher said. “I think we’ve gotten a good foundation of fitness into him. We got one more work to go if we end up running in the Amsterdam, which is what we’ve been targeting. He hasn’t run in awhile, we want to make sure we’ve got some good works into him.”
* Olympiad, winner of five straight, including the Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes last out, worked a half-mile in 48.29 seconds Saturday over the Oklahoma training track. He got his final quarter in 23.85.
Olympiad, trained by Bill Mott, is pointing to the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney on Aug. 6.