O'Neill targeting first juvenile stakes at Spa

ELMONT, N.Y. – After winning the Tremont with Fore Left last month at Belmont Park. trainer Doug O’Neill will set his sights on the opening week stakes for 2-year-olds at Saratoga.

O’Neill is expected to run the fillies Comical and Shippy in Thursday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Schuylerville Stakes, the co-feature on Saratoga’s opening-day card. O’Neill is also expected to run Raging Whiskey in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Sanford Stakes for juvenile males.

Comical, a daughter of Into Mischief, won her debut going 4 1/2 furlongs by six lengths at Santa Anita on May 26, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 75. Shippy won her debut by 10 3/4 lengths at Laurel on June 14 with a Beyer of 87 when in the barn of Tim Kreiser. Shippy was purchased privately by Dean Reeves, Joseph Besecker, and Qatar Racing and turned over to O’Neill.

Both horses put in workouts Friday at Belmont Park. Comical, with Javier Castellano up, was credited with a half-mile move in 48.77 seconds. Shippy, with Jose Ortiz up, went a half-mile in 48.45 seconds. Both fillies worked by themselves.

Of Comical, Leondro Mora, O’Neill’s assistant, said “we like the way she ran first time, thought she belonged in a stakes after that. She won by quite a few lengths and the timing to this race wasn’t too bad for her.”

Shippy has only been in Mora’s care for a few days.

“She likes to eat, she’s laid back in the stall, she’s pretty professional,” Mora said.

Raging Whiskey, previously trained by Luis Mendez, finished third to Fore Left in a maiden race at Santa Anita on May 19. Raging Whiskey came back to win a maiden race on June 2 and got a 66 Beyer for the performance. One of O’Neill’s owners, Greg Pappas bought into Raging Whiskey and the horse was transferred to O’Neill.

“When we won with Fore Left he was third and he was left at the gate that day,” Mora said. “One of our longtime owners owns half of him, we managed to get one of our longtime clients to buy the other half and keep him with us.”