Saratoga Snacks leads salty field of six in one-mile allowance

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The multiple stakes winners Saratoga Snacks and Readtheprospectus return to action in a salty New York-bred allowance race that headlines Wednesday’s eight-race program at Aqueduct.

The six hard-knocking older horses entered in the one-mile race have combined to win 45 races – 10 stakes – and bank $2,691,140. Beautyinthepulpit is the only non-stakes winner in the field, but he came within a head of Big Business in the Alex M. Robb in his last start Dec. 31. He won a similarly conditioned allowance race going a one-turn mile at Belmont in September.

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 back from Parcells and is now the owner and trainer of the son of Tale of the Cat.

Readtheprospectus, who from Oct. 20, 2012, to Sept. 19, 2013, won seven consecutive races, has raced just once in 15 months and has not been out since running seventh in the Commentator Stakes at Belmont last 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 twice, including a sharp half-mile in 47.85 seconds last Friday.

“I loved the way he worked. He did it all on his own; he galloped out nice and strong,” Sciacca said.

◗ That Saratoga Snacks is relatively lightly raced for a 6-year-old is due to chronic foot issues, according to Sciacca, who uses glue-on shoes on Saratoga Snacks.

“I reshod him again with glue-ons, put a little bigger shoe on him, tried to open those feet up a little bit,” Sciacca said. “I hope we got him right now. I think it’s a good spot for him to come back. If he’s himself, they got to worry about him.”

◗ Saratoga Snacks likely will end up stalking Readthebyline, whose seventh-place finish in the Alex M. Robb had everything to do with his breaking poorly.

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 11 workouts since late November leading up to this.

◗ He should get a solid pace in front of him.

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 in the Alex M. Robb last out.

◗ He definitely needs pace in front of him to be effective and should get it in here.