Saratoga Harness: Harris hoping for luck in stacked Gerrity field
The field for the 11th annual Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial at Saratoga Harness may be the deepest ever. The $260,000 event on Saturday night has stakes winners and winning streaks, and trainer Andrew Harris hopes there will be surprises as well. His Jimmy Freight drew post six in the field of eight but is far from an outsider.
“There’s three stone-cold leavers in the race. It’s going to be some first quarter,” Harris surmised. Included among the three forces are Levy champion Western Fame (post 2), Ben Franklin winner This Is The Plan (post 4) and the red-hot None Bettor A (post 5), who enters the contest with nine consecutive wins.
Jimmy Freight took the week off after an arduous journey in the $250,000 Graduate Final on July 6 at The Meadowlands, but the trainer revealed despite the difficult trip the 4-year-old by Sportswriter bounced back quickly. “He came out of it very well,” said Harris of the post Graduate recovery. “I told (owner) Adriano (Sorella) that it’s a good thing he’s as fit as he is.”
[GERRITY MEMORIAL: Watch all of the action from Gerrity night at Saratoga on Saturday & get real-time insights from Garnet Barnsdale on Harness Live.]
Harris understands the conditioning side but this year’s Gerrity is going to require some driving skills as well. “He’s definitely a horse that can race either way,” said Harris. “I’m sure Scott (Zeron) will have him in position.” As for the half-mile track, Harris believes it suits his horse perfectly.
The draw for the Gerrity left much of the power along the inside, with Levy champion Western Fame looking to bounce back from a third-place finish in the Ben Franklin three weeks ago. Dan Dube knows the 6-year-old son of Western Ideal trained by Rene Allard quite well. Western Fame has six wins in 10 starts this season.
McWicked has gotten off to a slow start in 2019 after a brilliant campaign in 2018 led him to Horse of the Year honors. Trainer Casie Coleman’s charge hasn’t appeared on the half-mile tracks that often but last year captured the $250,000 Dan Rooney invitational in an epic 1:50 4/5 clocking while defeating last year’s Gerrity champion Evenin Of Pleasure.
This Is The Plan has caught fire for trainer Ron Burke over the last month. The 4-year-old by Somebeachsomewhere followed up his impressive score in the Franklin with a pair of solid second-place finishes behind Lather Up in the Graduate final and William Haughton Memorial at The Meadowlands over the past two weekends. Yannick Gingras has been behind This Is The Plan during his recent form spree and is again listed to drive on Saturday.
Driver Joe Bongiorno looks for his second straight Gerrity victory, this time with None Bettor A. The import has moved up the class ladder since arriving stateside and has proven to be as good on small tracks as he’s been on the milers. The son of Bettor’s Delight scorched the Northfield Park oval in 1:49 in capturing the Battle of Lake Erie on June 8. None Bettor A prepped for the Gerrity with a 1:49 4/5 victory last Sunday in a Great Northeast Open event at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
Trainer Nick Surick’s The Wall has had a breakout season this year primarily racing on the smaller tracks. Driver Jim Pantaleano returns to the sulky behind the 5-year-old, who landed the pole position. “He left hard when Jim drove him at Harrah’s,” said Harris, recalling the Commodore Barry Invite where The Wall forced a 25 2/5 opening quarter from a similar spot.
Half-mile track experience will certainly help the final two Gerrity Memorial entrants. Ideal Jimmy has raced brilliantly all season long on the smaller tracks including leg victories in the Levy at Yonkers. The Erv Miller trainee has won nine times this year. Brent Holland drives Ideal Jimmy from post seven.
Done Well has struggled some since capturing the Confederation Cup over the Flamboro Downs half-miler in mid-May, but the 4-year-old son of Well Said was more than respectable finishing fifth behind Lather Up in his world record equaling 1:46 clocking in the Graduate final. Done Well hails from the Ron Burke stable.
Supporting the Gerrity Jr. Memorial (race 7) on the Saratoga program will be the fourth leg of the New York Sire Stakes for juvenile colt and gelding pacers. The action kicks off at 7:05 p.m.