Saratoga Snacks heads salty field in redrawn allowance
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Eight days later than scheduled, multiple stakes winners Saratoga Snacks and Readtheprospectus are scheduled to return to action in a salty New York-bred allowance race Thursday at Aqueduct.
The one-mile race was originally scheduled for Feb. 4 but postponed when that card was canceled. The forecast for Thursday calls for a possible 1 to 3 inches of snow, so there is no guarantee this card will be held either.
The same six horses that were originally entered in this race all re-entered. Post positions were basically flipped as the two horses with outside posts last week – Awesome Vision and Saratoga Snacks – are now on the inside, while Readthebyline and Readtheprospectus went from being in posts 1 and 2, respectively, to posts 5 and 6.
Saratoga Snacks is reunited with Gary Sciacca, who had trained the ridgling originally for Hall of Fame football coach Bill Parcells. In July, Parcells moved the horse to trainer Bill Mott, but the horse went winless in five starts for Mott. In late December, Sciacca obtained the horse from Parcells and is now the owner and trainer of the son of Tale of the Cat.
Readtheprospectus, trained by Chad Brown, won seven straight races from Oct. 20, 2012, to Sept. 19, 2013. However, he has raced just once in 15 months, his last start being a seventh-place finish in the Commentator Handicap at Belmont on May 31.
KEY CONTENDERS
Saratoga Snacks (Last 3 Beyers: 86-90-83)
◗ He won 7 of 12 starts for Sciacca before being transferred to Mott.
◗ After getting the horse back, Sciacca went easy with him for several weeks before breezing him four times, including a sharp half-mile in 47.85 seconds on Jan. 30. He came back to work a half-mile in 48.65 on Saturday with a strong gallop out.
◗ Sciacca has made one change, replacing Angel Arroyo with C.C. Lopez. Though Sciacca declined to say why he made the change, he did have Lopez work the horse last weekend.
◗ Saratoga Snacks is relatively lightly raced for a 6-year-old due to chronic foot issues, according to Sciacca, who equips the ridgling with glue-on shoes.
Readtheprospectus (Last 3 Beyers: 83-84-93)
◗ His seven-race winning streak in 2012-13 included two optional-claiming wins over the inner track.
◗ He has dealt with myriad issues since being laid up last June but has 12 workouts leading up to this race.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 6 Readtheprospectus. Trainer Chad Brown is 18-9-1-2 with a $2.33 ROI over the past five years in dirt routes following a layoff of 180 days or more. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Beautyinthepulpit (Last 3 Beyers: 98-96-86)
◗ Though he is the only member of this field who is not a stakes winner, the 7-year-old son of Pulpit may be in the best form, narrowly missing to Big Business in the Alex M. Robb Stakes last out.
◗ He needs pace in front of him to be effective and could get it in here.
Readthebyline (Last 3 Beyers: 65-98-70)
◗ He is the main speed of the race if he breaks cleanly, something he didn’t do in the Alex M. Robb when he had his head turned at the start. He rushed up and was done by the quarter pole, making that race a throw out.
◗ He wired the field in the New York Stallion Stakes on Nov. 22 at Aqueduct.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 Awesome Vision. Trainer Tom Albertrani is 11-3-0-3 with a $5.20 ROI over the past five years in routes on the Aqueduct inner dirt in the third start following a layoff. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan