Position Limit steps up in Adirondack

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher has dominated the juvenile maiden races here this summer. Sunday, he hopes to start getting a piece of the stakes action as well.

Position Limit, a 6 3/4-length debut winner at Belmont a month ago, heads a field of 10 juvenile fillies entered in Sunday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga.

Debuting over a muddy and sealed surface, Position Limit raced wide and off the pace before overtaking favorite Evangelical and bounding clear to the easy victory. She ran 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.70 and earned an 89 Beyer Speed Figure. The Adirondack is at 6 1/2 furlongs.

“She had trained well up to her first race, not surprised by her performance,” said Pletcher, who has won seven 2-year-old maiden races at this meet. “She handled the off track well, very professional. The filly has trained very forwardly; expect her to handle the added distance without any problems. Looking forward to stepping her up in class and see what we have.”

Alienation, who won her debut on turf at Hollywood Park, was scratched out of the Sorrento Stakes by trainer Bob Baffert and sent to New York for this spot. She worked a sharp five furlongs in 1:00 on Monday over Saratoga’s muddy main track, although she was asked to finish in the stretch.

“She’s worked well on everything that I’ve had her on,” Baffert said. “She wants to go long, but she’s fast.”

Miss Sarah Brown won her debut at Calder by 1 1/4 lengths in May and was privately purchased by a group headed by Curragh Stables and transferred to John Terranova. Miss Sarah Brown, a daughter of Mass Media, has been training very well in Saratoga, though her connections were hoping to run in a six-furlong allowance race before attempting the Spinaway later in the meet.

“Six-and-a-half, she might get a lot of pressure on her from the outside,” Terranova said. “She’s a fast filly. She’s trained really well up here. I expect her to run really well from what I’ve seen in the morning.”

Because I Like It ships in from Calder following a game second-place finish to Awesome Feather in the J J’sdream Stakes on July 10. In that race, Because I Like It made an early bid to the lead and gave way grudgingly to Awesome Feather, who came back to win the Desert Vixen Stakes last Saturday. Javier Castellano picks up the mount for new trainer Steve Standridge.

Hula, Nina Fever, and Tristanme are additional contenders.