Salty takes another shot at Abel Tasman in Coaching Club American Oaks

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Salty already has lost twice to Abel Tasman in Grade 1 races this year, and she will try again when the two 3-year-old fillies head a seven-horse field for Sunday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga.

Salty will have some company in the starting gate from her own barn as trainer Mark Casse and owner Gary Barber supplemented Summer Luck and Corporate Queen to the 1 1/8-mile race, which serves as a stepping-stone to the Grade 1 Alabama on Aug. 19.

Salty finished fifth to Abel Tasman in the Kentucky Oaks, beaten four lengths. Abel Tasman overcame post 13 to win the Oaks, but Salty could not overcome post 14, encountering some traffic trouble.

“I took the Oaks and threw it out,” Casse said. “We had the same high opinion of Salty after the Oaks as we did before it.”

The two met again last month in the Grade 1 Acorn, where Abel Tasman again rallied from last, this time making an inside move under Mike Smith while Salty went four wide. Abel Tasman beat Salty by one length.

“The Acorn was won by Mike Smith,” Casse said. “I can remember watching the race. I was watching for Abel Tasman, saying, ‘Where is she? Where is she?’ And all at once, she went from last to first. While we were going around, Mike ducked in. We went from being in front of her to chasing her.”

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Abel Tasman drew post 2, while Salty will break from post 7.

Summer Luck and Corporate Queen will be longshots in the race. Summer Luck is coming off a third-place finish in the Regret Stakes on turf. Corporate Queen was third in the Black-Eyed Susan. Both have won only a maiden race.

Of Summer Luck, Casse said: “She’s probably not good enough to beat Abel Tasman or Salty, but as we know, Saratoga is the graveyard – anything’s possible. Even American Pharoah got beat here.”

Daddys Lil Darling, second in the Kentucky Oaks, returns to dirt after finishing fourth in the Belmont Oaks on turf. Elate is coming off a minor stakes win at Delaware. Berned, fifth in the Delaware Oaks, completes the field.