Saratoga notes: Allowance looks top-grade with Turallure, Beau Choix

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Barclay Tagg called Wednesday’s sixth race at Saratoga “a Grade 1 allowance race,” and it’s likely the majority of his colleagues who also may have been looking for a soft spot for their stakes-caliber turf horses would agree with that assessment.

Tagg will send out his Grade 1-placed grass specialist Beau Choix against a field that also includes Grade 1 winner Turallure, the multiple Grade 1-placed Mr. Commons, South American Group 1 winner Vitoria Olimpica, and a strong supporting cast of Bim Bam, Paris Vegas, Pants On Fire, Seal Cove, Hoofit, Sleepless Knight, and Abilio.

Turallure continues his comeback while trying to regain the form that saw him capture the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch, win the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, and finish second, beaten a nose by Court Vision, to close out his 2011 campaign in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Turallure has not hit the board in three starts since returning to action in April after spending nine months on the sidelines recuperating from bone bruising.

“It’s really a tough race, but I desperately want to get this horse back on track, and I thought coming up here would pick his head up a little bit,” trainer Charlie LoPresti said. “He didn’t run bad last time, he got beat four lengths, and in his previous start he was way too far back off a slow pace. I think there will be some pace to run at Wednesday, and that’s what this horse wants.”

LoPresti believes Turallure is showing signs of getting back to his Grade 1-caliber form of two years earlier.

“I think he’s brighter, he’s more energetic, and I see a little bit of a pattern that would suggest he’s moving in the right direction,” LoPresti said. “My plan, if this race is a good one for him, is to get him back to the Bernard Baruch again.”

Tagg also is eyeing the Baruch for the 7-year-old Beau Choix, who finished third in the Grade 3 Canadian Turf and second in the Grade 3 Appleton earlier this year at Gulfstream Park.

“I’m hoping it’s a prep for the Baruch, but it’s an awfully tough race,” Tagg said. “The old guy’s got some wear and tear under him now. He’s probably not the same horse he once was, but I believe he’s got a little brilliance left in him yet.”

Mr. Commons, who has been freshened since finishing third in the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile at Keeneland, will make his local debut Wednesday, seeking his first victory since capturing the Grade 2 Arcadia at Santa Anita 18 months ago.

Profetiza in stakes debut

Last Saturday, Mike Smith guided Royal Delta to a powerful front-running victory in the Grade 1 Delaware Handicap for owner Benjamin Leon and trainer Bill Mott

On Wednesday, that trio will try to pull off a similar move with Profetiza in the $100,000 Broom Dance Stakes at Saratoga. With only a five-horse field, the Broom Dance goes as race 2 on the 10-race card.

Profetiza, a daughter of A.P. Indy who brought $775,000 as a yearling, has won 2 of 3 starts, including a four-length victory in a one-turn, one-mile allowance race at Belmont on June 21.

In her only loss, her first start at Gulfstream Park, Profetiza blew a 4 1/2-length lead in the final furlong and finished second.

“She poked her toes in the ground when she made the lead, didn’t go on,” Mott said. “She was very green. If she wanted to, she could have won by four or five.”

Profetiza looks like the controlling speed in the Broom Dance from post 4. Mott said that should Profetiza perform well in the Broom Dance, he would consider running her back in the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama on Aug. 17.

Montana Native and Tap Twenty One, 1-2 in a first-level allowance race at Churchill on June 27, Parc Monceau, Flash Forward, and Majestic Marquet complete the Broom Dance field.

Unlimited Budget, Dreaming of Julia to Cotillion

Trainer Todd Pletcher has had multiple entrants in many of this year’s Grade 1 stakes for 3-year-old fillies and colts. But in the Grade 1 Alabama, he will go only with Coaching Club American Oaks and Kentucky Oaks winner Princess of Sylmar.

Pletcher said Monday that Unlimited Budget, last in the CCA Oaks as the 6-5 favorite, was sent to Mill Creek Farm for a two-week freshening and will point to the $1 million Cotillion at Parx Racing on Sept. 21.

Pletcher also said that for Dreaming of Julia, a well-beaten second in the Mother Goose, “the Cotillion probably is the most likely goal unless she’s crawling out of her skin before the Alabama.”

Pletcher said that Princess of Sylmar, who earned a career-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure for her six-length victory in the Coaching Club, emerged from the race in good order.

– additional reporting by David Grening