Palace Malice better than ever entering Whitney
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mistake-prone in his youth, Palace Malice has been flawless in four starts this year, all graded stakes victories. In Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.5 million Whitney, Palace Malice can put a hammerlock on the older-male dirt division when he faces 3-year-old champion Will Take Charge and five other millionaires in the richest race of the Saratoga season.
Victories in the Gulfstream Park Handicap, New Orleans Handicap, Westchester, and Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap have Palace Malice atop the division. A year ago, Palace Malice was a bit inconsistent, jumping tire tracks in the Blue Grass, running off with blinkers in the Kentucky Derby, and breaking slowly in the Travers before finishing fourth behind Will Take Charge and Moreno.
“The biggest difference this year, he hasn’t made those types of mistakes,” Todd Pletcher, the trainer of Palace Malice, said. “We were worried about the Met Mile, drawing the 1 hole and carrying top weight, and he’s just gotten more professional.”
On Saturday, Palace Malice will break from post 5, with the main speed, Moreno, and the likely stalker, Itsmyluckyday, to his inside.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 5 Palace Malice. Trainer Todd Pletcher is 8 for 23 with a $2.61 ROI over the past two years in graded stakes dirt routes at Saratoga.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Trainer Eric Guillot promises that Moreno will be on the lead under Junior Alvarado.
“I’m going to tell him, ‘Ride him like you’re working him by himself a mile and an eighth, and I want you to go 1:47 and change,’ ” Guillot said.
Itsmyluckyday, coming off three consecutive victories, figures to be the first one to take a run at Moreno.
“If he takes the lead and we’re laying off him and we feel like we have to take first run, I hope it’s the last run anybody makes,” said Eddie Plesa Jr., the trainer of Itsmyluckyday.
Will Take Charge and Departing likely will be making runs in the stretch. Though trainer D. Wayne Lukas was not happy with drawing the rail, he believes Will Take Charge is coming into this race as good as he did for last year’s Travers.
“He’s doing super, I have no reservations about how he’s doing,” Lukas said. “I’m going to lead him over there in really good shape. I feel real comfortable there.”
Luis Saez, aboard for the Travers, is reunited with Will Take Charge. Gary Stevens rode him in his two previous races.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 Will Take Charge. His 2013 Travers win is trainer D. Wayne Lukas’s only victory in a dirt route at Saratoga over the past five years (1 for 29 with a $0.73 ROI).Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
In 2010, trainer Al Stall sent out Blame to upset the Pletcher-trained 1-2 favorite Quality Road in the Whitney. On Saturday, Stall sends out Departing, who won two graded stakes last summer after training at Saratoga. This will be his first start at Saratoga.
“He’s always an honest, forward horse,” Stall said. “He’s good anywhere. Up here just seems a little bit better.”
Romansh, who ran a good third in the Met Mile, is capable at his best of competing at this level. An inconsistent sort, he usually follows a bad race with a good one and should be a price.
Conpleting the field are Golden Ticket, who dead-heated for the win in the 2012 Travers; Last Gunfighter, seeking to rebound from a clunker in the Suburban; and Prayer for Relief, third in the Suburban last out.
The Whitney is one of five stakes on the 11-race card. It will be televised live by NBC from 5-6 p.m. Eastern.
Key contenders
Palace Malice (Last 3 Beyers: 111-113-114)
◗ Unbeaten in four starts this year, including the Metropolitan.
◗ He is 2 for 3 at Saratoga, the lone loss coming in the Travers, where he broke slowly.
◗ Pletcher has won the Whitney three times – with Left Bank (2002), Lawyer Ron (2007), and Cross Traffic (2013). John Velazquez was aboard those three as well as Whitney winner Commentator (2008).
Will Take Charge (Last 3 Beyers: 98-82-103)
◗ Last year’s Travers winner is coming off an improved effort in the Stephen Foster following a sixth-place finish in the Alysheba.
◗ Reunited with Luis Saez, who had four wins and three seconds from seven rides on Will Take Charge last year.
Itsmyluckyday (Last 3 Beyers 102-90-93)
◗ Has appeared to regain the form he had in early 2013, when he was among the top of the 3-year-old division.
◗ Was beaten seven lengths by Palace Malice in the Gulfstream Park Handicap, his first start in nine months.
“We were starting from zero as far as fitness,” Plesa said. “His fitness and his muscle were zero, he ran against arguably the best handicap horse we have right now, and he got beat seven lengths.”