Saratoga: Souper Speedy takes class drop for Friday allowance

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Trainer Tom Albertrani will be represented in both stakes races on Friday’s 10-race program with outsider Love Stanza Chance in the Yaddo and Awesome Vision in the Saratoga Sunrise. But his best chance on the card could come in the sixth race when he sends out Jaipur winner Souper Speedy in a $90,000 allowance race to be decided at seven furlongs.

Souper Speedy returns to the allowance ranks after finishing fourth in the Grade 3 James Marvin earlier in the meet. Souper Speedy, somewhat surprisingly, wound up on the lead, disputing a very fast pace before faltering late to finish 2 1/4 lengths behind race winner Sage Valley as the 9-5 choice in the James Marvin.

Souper Speedy became a stakes winner for the first time six weeks earlier when placed first via the disqualification of his stablemate Big Screen in the Jaipur.

“I just decided to give him a little class relief and try to get him back up to a winning race,” said Albertrani, who trains the homebred Souper Speedy for Live Oak Plantation. “Last time he was used up quite a bit on the lead, which was not where we really wanted to be.”

Albertrani said he would eventually like to stretch out Souper Speedy a little bit following a steady diet of one-turn races this year.

“As a 2-year-old he ran well in the Remsen,” said Albertrani. “And there’s always a possibility of running him long on the turf since he’s a half-brother to Brilliant Speed.”

Albertrani is also hopeful Awesome Vision can turn the tables on Bigger Is Better when the pair meet again in the $100,000 Saratoga Sunrise, a nine-furlong test restricted to New York-breds. Awesome Vision came out on the short end of a head decision when defeated by Bigger is Better in the Evan Shipman here last month.

“He ran well last time. We just ran a jump or two out of ground,” said Albertrani.

Souper Speedy will face six rivals, including the Grade 2-placed Brigand in Friday’s sixth race. Brigand has not started since finishing sixth after pressing the pace in the Grade 1 Carter Handicap. Although trained by Bob Baffert, the New York-bred Brigand has resided primarily under the shed of John Terranova since the spring of 2012.

“He went down to Fair Hill for about four or five weeks for a little rest after the Carter,” said Terranova. “He’s a big strong horse so we just took our time with him. He looks great, and I’m glad this race went. He’s eligible because he’s a New York-bred and can run in an open three-other-than again.”

Terranova said Baffert opted to scratch Smash, who also has been in his barn all season, from Wednesday’s Troy Stakes because of the softer nature of the turf course.

“Bob just didn’t want to take a chance trying the turf for the first time with him and potentially not getting a good read,” said Terranova. “He’s worked well on turf a couple of times, he’s bred for it, and at this point in his career we just wanted to see where he might wind up.”