One turn suits Take D' Tour

ELMONT, N.Y. - David Fawkes believes the tactics employed by fellow trainer Todd Pletcher, more so than the two turns, were responsible for the demise of Take D' Tour in last month's Go for Wand at Saratoga.

Fawkes, the trainer of , contends Pletcher used Pool Land as a rabbit to run with the speedy Take D' Tour early in order to set the race up for Spun Sugar, another Pletcher trainee, who indeed came from off the pace to win the Grade 1 Go for Wand by a nose over Balletto.

"He stated it before [the race]. He told the agent, he told the press he wasn't going to let me walk the dog," Fawkes said. "That was why he did that. But hey, he won."

Fawkes will seek to exact some revenge Sunday when Take D' Tour and .

Take D' Tour shipped here from Florida in the spring to win both the Grade 2 Shuvee and Grade 1 Ogden Phipps handicaps in gate-to-wire fashion. Take D' Tour was able to establish clear leads early in both races, and those victories improved her record to 7 for 7 around one turn.

Fawkes believes the one-turn configuration of the Ruffian will enable Take D' Tour to get into her long stride quicker than going two turns, when she has to slow down going into the first turn.

"That's what it is. She's able to get into a rhythm going down the backside," Fawkes said. "Going a mile and a sixteenth, she's got a half a mile to get settled and get into a rhythm."

Fawkes said Take D' Tour came out of the Go for Wand in good shape and continued to train well at Saratoga for this race. On Sunday, Take D' Tour breezed five furlongs in 58.47 seconds over a wet Saratoga main track.

"She came out of the race excellent," Fawkes said. "She had a nice breeze up there, her coat is good, she's eating good. Everything's good."

Pletcher said it wasn't so much that Pool Land was used as a rabbit in the Go for Wand but rather that he let her run her own race.

"She's a filly that had always been on the pace except when she broke slow at Gulfstream," Pletcher said. "Some of it will be dictated on post positions, but we'll let her run her race. . . . We're not going to take her back."

Take D' Tour drew the rail, while Pool Land will break from post 2.

Summerly is another who has done her best running on the lead. She returned from a 54-week layoff to win the Ashado Stakes going gate to wire. Sunday, she will be cutting back from two turns and 1 1/8 miles. Last year, at Belmont, Summerly finished third in the Mother Goose going one turn here.

"I think she's at a level of fitness where she can handle anything right now," trainer Scott Blasi said. "Cutting back to a one-turn mile-and-a-sixteenth race doesn't concern me, though I do feel she's more effective at two turns, because she stays. The goal all year is to try and make it to the Breeders' Cup, and this is just another step along the way."

Blasi is making a rider change from Shaun Bridgmohan to Garrett Gomez.

Classy Charm has done her best running at Belmont Park, winning 3 of 6 starts, including two overnight stakes during the spring meet. Classy Charm finished fourth behind Summerly - to whom she was spotting two pounds - in the Ashado Stakes at Saratoga, but trainer John Kimmel blames the wet surface for that dull performance.

"It was a wet, drying-out racetrack, and she hated it," Kimmel said. "There should be plenty of pace in the race. Hopefully, she can have some kind of impact in the race."

Miss Shop, trained by Allen Jerkens, looks to bounce back from a poor performance in the Alabama.

The field

Ruffian
Purse: $300,000; 1 1/16 miles; Grade 1

* Odds by Art Gropper