Powerline makes debut, tops noteworthy pair of maiden races
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. − There are a pair of races for 2-year-olds on Saturday’s Saratoga card that figure to garner perhaps even more interest than usual.
Race 1, a six-furlong event for males, features the debut of Powerline, a son of Flightline who brought $1.8 million as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale last August. Powerline, trained by Steve Asmussen for a group that includes West Point Thoroughbreds, Summer Wind Farm, and John Oxley, was entered in a race at Churchill Downs on June 27 but scratched when the track came up sloppy. Powerline was immediately sent to Saratoga where he has worked twice.
“We expect a lot of him but not all of it is going to be his first time out,” Asmussen said. “But talent’s talent. Pedigree-wise, physical-wise, he’s everything you would like. He’s got a tremendous amount of athleticism and he’s got a great attitude.”
In addition to being by Flightline, Powerline is out of the Quality Road dam Park Avenue, who was a stakes winner on turf, but also a two-time winner on dirt.
Ricardo Santana Jr. is named to ride Powerline from post 4.
The race drew seven including two horses who come off of second-place finishes on debut. Greenwell, also a son of Flightline, finished second when he debuted at Churchill Downs on June 12 for trainer Mark Casse.
“Most of my horses need races, that one probably needed it more than most,” Casse said. “I only got him in the middle of February so I didn’t have him a long time.”
Jack’s Golden Goal finished second to Booked in a June 7 Saratoga maiden race. Booked came back to win the Grade 3 Sanford. Jack’s Golden Goal will be equipped with blinkers by trainer Antonio Arriaga, who also entered Johnny Hockey in this race. Johnny Hockey did run last Saturday, so he’s not certain to run back.
Midnight Still, the third-place finisher from the June 12 race in which Greenwell ran second, won a maiden race here last Saturday for trainer Kinnon LaRose, the former Tom Amoss assistant. LaRose sends out the firster Got Tough from the rail in this spot on Saturday.
Trainer Brad Cox sends out The Good Life, a debuting son of Life Is Good, while Whit Beckman sends out Let Em Know, a son of Jackie’s Warrior who brought $600,000 as a 2-year-old-in-training purchase in March.
Race 7, at six furlongs for 2-year-old fillies, features the debut of Effusive, a daughter of Into Mischief out of the champion mare Monomoy Girl. Monomoy Girl’s first foal, Provenance, won his maiden in his second career start.
Cox has already won with a first-time starter at this meet, Angel of Kirk, who won here on July 11 by 4 3/4 lengths, earning a 77 Beyer Speed Figure.
Effusive has a solid work tab dating back to May 5.
Two horses in this nine-horse field have made a start already, Energy Flows (LaRose), who finished second in a June 13 race, and Mel Went Home (Robbie Medina), who was third behind Luminous Beauty in a maiden race at Saratoga on June 4.
Luminous Beauty came back to get beat 30 3/4 lengths in the Schuylerville.
Other first-time starters of note in race 7 are Elevated, a daughter Flightline, Have Hope, a daughter of Into Mischief, and Cruising Again, a daughter of Charlatan out of the debut-winning mare Rose Grey. Fifth and Chestnut, in from Parx for trainer John Servis, is by Constitution out of the dam Fast Scene, whose first two foals who won their maidens at second asking.
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