Saratoga: Willet preps for graded try
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Although Willet is a five-time stakes winner and is Grade 1-placed, trainer James Iselin says her résumé won’t be complete until she wins a graded stakes. The 7-year-old mare will try to meet that goal later this season, and she takes the first step on Thursday when she takes on nine other New York-bred fillies and mares at Saratoga in the $100,000 Union Avenue Stakes.
Willet, who won the Union Avenue in 2013, has been idle since beating open company in the Interborough Stakes at Aqueduct on Jan. 17. Iselin, who also owns a share of the mare, said her return was delayed by a temperature and that he would have loved to bring her back to Saratoga with a race under her belt.
“I was planning on running her a month or so before this at Belmont,” said Iselin. “She’s training great and ready to run, but she’s 7 years old now and might need a race or two to be in her best form. Although she’s 7, she’s been lightly raced and is very sound. She’s only had 23 starts, which is by design, and I’m really looking forward to bringing her back up to Saratoga again. She’s already Grade 1- and Grade 2-placed, but I’d love to fill in her résumé with a graded stakes win.”
The stretch-running Willet should catch an honest pace in the 6 1/2-furlong Union Avenue in a field that includes speedy rivals such as last year’s winner, Uncle Southern, Court Dancer, Atlantic’s Smile, and Irish Whisper.
Uncle Southern led throughout over a sloppy track to win the 2014 Union Avenue by three-quarters of a length for trainer Linda Rice. She has gone winless in four subsequent starts. Atlantic’s Smile is coming off a stakes victory at Finger Lakes, where she was in front at every call.
Tricky Zippy brings a two-race win streak into her stakes debut while making her first start since being transferred to trainer Jimy Jerkens’s barn earlier this summer.
Key Contenders
Willet (Last 3 Beyers 88-73-82)
She will be competing at Saratoga for the fifth consecutive summer and has yet to finish off the board in six local starts, including a second-place finish in her career debut in 2011.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 7 Willet. Trainer James Iselin is 7-0-2-0 over the past three years in dirt sprints with horses returning from a layoff of 180 days or more; Willet is 3-0-2-0 herself when doing that. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Tricky Zippy (Last 3 Beyers 86-79-N/A)
Trainer Jimmy Jerkens is 13 percent with a $1.33 ROI first time off a trainer switch over the past five years, according to DRF Formulator.
She is the lone 3-year-old in the field and will receive a 10-pound break in weights from Willet.
Make the Moment (Last 3 Beyers 82-76-83)
Her only victory since finishing third behind Uncle Southern in the 2014 Union Avenue came in an allowance race this winter at Aqueduct.
Uncle Southern (Last 3 Beyers28-70-80)
She’s posted two of her four wins over wet tracks, including the 2014 Union Avenue.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 8 Irish Whisper. Trainer Tom Morley is 8-3-0-1 (with a gaudy ROI made irrelevant due to a $124 winner) over the past five years in dirt races following a layoff of 180 days or more. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan