Second turn will separate contenders from pretenders in Sapling
There’s Grade 1 2-year-old sprint racing over Labor Day weekend at Saratoga, but by the Jersey Shore, Monmouth Park is giving the juvenile set a shot at two-turn racing.
Monday’s feature is the Sorority for 2-year-old fillies but first comes the $200,000 Sapling, a two-turn mile open to either sex and carded as the featured ninth race Sunday. The race drew a field of eight, with horses shipping from New York and Maryland and as far afield as Florida and Illinois.
Arlington-based American Sanctuary and Palm Meadows-based Chancellor Bay, the two who traveled the longest distance to get to Monmouth, both rate a solid shot in a race that figures to have Double Thunder as a favorite.
Leading rider Paco Lopez rides Double Thunder for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Double Thunder, winner of the Grade 3 Bashford Manor in June, comes out of a distant fourth-place finish Aug. 14 in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special. Double Thunder was beaten 10 1/2 lengths by victorious High Oak.
Double Thunder won over 4 1/2 furlongs at Monmouth in his career debut and at six furlongs in the Bashford Manor, and he is not a slam-dunk route horse. His form suggests a one-run closing sprinter, and while Double Thunder might adapt to the two turns, the price might be wrong to bet he does.
Chancellor Bay, owned and trained by Daniel Pita, performed creditably finishing fourth in his career debut June 11 at Gulfstream and took a considerable step forward there winning a seven-furlong maiden race Aug. 7 by more than three lengths, earning a 72 Beyer Speed Figure after racing wide around the turn. Those maidens were spread out over a great distance at the finish, a hint of a solid race, and third-place finisher Strike Hard returned to win a maiden race with a 78 Beyer.
Chancellor Bay is by Honor Code and out of Mourette, a winner over nine furlongs and the dam of graded stakes winner Sir Anthony, a winner over two miles. Distance should pose no problem for Chancellor Bay.
American Sanctuary also will get the mile, according to his trainer, Chris Davis, who had to ship the colt to Prairie Meadows for a pair of dirt starts after American Sanctuary flopped on the Arlington Polytrack in his career debut. After an 8 1/2-length maiden win, American Sanctuary rallied nicely to finish second of 10 in the six-furlong Prairie Gold Juvenile last month.
“I think the farther the better based on his training and in his races,” Davis said. “He’s a big, rangy horse, not massive. He’s precocious and fit as can be. His brain is wired to compete.”
Pletcher has a second entrant in Midnight Worker, a modest Saratoga debut winner, while trainer Steve Asmussen ships Under the Gun off a series of encouraging Saratoga drills.
“He’s kept very good company in the morning,” Asmussen said.
Under the Gun’s only start came in June sprinting at Belmont Park, and he finished a close, if one-paced, fifth, beaten two lengths by the winner, High Oak, who returned to thump Double Thunder in the Saratoga Special.
“He needs to go longer, and this is a great chance to get him in a two-turn race,” Asmussen said.
Buff Hello and Swift Tap aren’t hopeless, either, in a solid renewal of the Sapling.