Shipsational has best credentials in Sleepy Hollow field
ELMONT, N.Y. – Shipsational avenged his tough-trip loss to Senbei in the Funny Cide Stakes in August at Saratoga when he beat that rival in the Bertram. F. Bongard Stakes last month at Belmont Park. Saturday, Shipsational will have a new opponent to contend with when he takes on the impressive debut winner Overstep in the $250,000 Sleepy Hollow Stakes for New York-bred 2-year-olds at Belmont.
The Sleepy Hollow, run 12 days after the $200,000 New York Breeders’ Futurity at Finger Lakes for the same division, drew a field of just six. It is carded as the third race and is the first of six stakes to be run on the 10-race card devoted entirely to New York breds.
Shipsational got roughed up soon after the start in the Funny Cide and finished fourth, 4 1/2 lengths behind Senbei. Shipsational, trained by Eddie Barker for Iris Smith, was a dream-trip winner of the seven-furlong Bertram Bongard, beating Senbei by two lengths. Senbei came out of that race to win the six-furlong New York Breeders’ Futurity by four lengths on Oct. 18 at Finger Lakes.
Shipsational, meanwhile, will stretch out from seven furlongs to a mile in the Sleepy Hollow.
“A mile he should be able to get,” Barker said. “He got the seven-eighths pretty easy and he galloped pretty strong after the race. He’s been training very, very well and I expect a really good race out of him.”
Barker is not concerned about the prospect of a wet track, considering Shipsational won his debut by 6 3/4 lengths in the slop at Saratoga in July.
Shipsational, the only multiple winner in the field, breaks from post 4 under Luis Saez and is the 122-pound highweight.
Overstep, a son of Into Mischief owned by Mike Repole and Vinnie Viola and trained by Todd Pletcher, won his only start on Sept. 25 here by 6 1/4 lengths. Under Irad Ortiz Jr., Overstep stalked the pace, took over at the head of the lane, had a sizeable lead in midstretch, and won while being geared down. Horses coming out of that race are 0 for 5.
Overstep, who breaks from post 2 under Ortiz, will be stretching out from six furlongs to a mile and likely be running over a wet track for the first time.
“I think he’ll handle both fine,” Pletcher said. “He certainly finished up strongly at six. He’s got enough pedigree to suggest he’ll go long and he’s bred to like the mud, too.”
Who Hoo Thats Me was fifth in the Funny Cide as a maiden, and came back to win his maiden on the same Sept. 25 program on which Overstep won. Who Hoo Thats Me’s final time was .22 of a second slower than Overstep’s.
Sundaeswithsandy, Excursionniste, and Sterling Hill complete the Sleepy Hollow field.
Maid of the Mist
Sandy’s Garden will look to validate her 20 3/4-length debut romp at Finger Lakes when she travels downstate to take on nine fellow New York-bred juvenile fillies in the $250,000 Maid of the Mist Stakes.
Jockey Jackie Davis did her best Ron Turcotte impression in Sandy’s Garden’s Oct. 12 debut, looking behind her in upper stretch of the six-furlong race before riding the filly out as per instructions. She earned a 71 Beyer Speed Figure, tops in the field.
“We were expecting that,” trainer John Tebbutt said. “We wanted to break her maiden [at Belmont], but the timing didn’t coincide with getting into this race. The gallop-out was extraordinary and it was done to prepare for the mile race.”
Though Tebbutt is based at Finger Lakes, Sandy’s Garden has been training at Saratoga under the watchful eye of owner/breeder James Doyle. On Oct. 23, Sandy’s Garden worked a bullet half-mile over the Oklahoma training track in 48.20 seconds.
“She seems like the real deal,” Tebbutt said of Sandy’s Garden, a daughter of Conveyance. “She just does everything right. She’s got beautiful action, nothing wasted in her action.”
Tebbutt isn’t as much concerned with running Sandy’s Garden back in 18 days as he is with whether she got enough out of her first race.
“All she did was go out there and go wire to wire,” he said. “Hopefully, she’s just that much better.”
Manny Franco has the call on Sandy’s Garden from post 5 in the Maid of the Mist. Davis rides the maiden Vallelujah in this race for her father, Robbie Davis.
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Velvet Sister was a runner-up to November Rein in the Seeking the Ante Stakes at Saratoga and was beaten eight lengths when running second to Classy Edition in the Joseph A. Gimma on Sept. 28. Toby Sheets, assistant to Velvet Sister’s trainer, Steve Asmussen, said he believes the one-mile distance “suits her really well and I think she’s going to run really well.”
Venti Valentine, Starship Laoban, Classic Lynne, Sue Ellen Mishkin, Captainsdaughter, Dufresne, and Luz complete the field. Classy Edition was kept out of the Maid of the Mist due to a temperature, according to trainer Todd Pletcher.