Take Charge Brandi among familiar foes in Test
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – If the starting lineup in Saturday’s $500,000 Test Stakes looks vaguely familiar to Saratoga regulars, it should. The Grade 1 sprint for 3-year-old fillies reunites the majority of the field from last year’s Adirondack Stakes – top three finishers Cavorting, Angela Renee, and Wonder Gal – along with Take Charge Brandi, who finished a distant fifth that afternoon before going on to become the 2014 juvenile filly champion.
Cavorting rallied to a convincing 1 3/4-length victory over Angela Renee in the Adirondack and comes into the seven-furlong Test off what trainer Kiaran McLaughlin called her best race yet, a three-quarter-length win in the six-furlong Jersey Girl at Belmont Park.
“She needed to run well last time for us to be thinking of a Grade 1, and she ran huge,” said McLaughlin. “She also ran well over the track last year, and I think seven-eighths is perfect for her, so I’m really excited about having her in this race.”
Angela Renee has lost her last six starts and returns to dirt after finishing fifth while trying grass for the first time eight weeks ago at Belmont Park. But Angela Renee has been training extremely well over a track that she handled last summer.
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Wonder Gal also shortens up off a series of longer races that includes a third-place finish behind the red-hot Curalina in the Grade 1 Acorn and a second just three weeks later in the Grade 1 Mother Goose.
Take Charge Brandi is looking to avoid the same fate as 2014 Eclipse Award winners Judy the Beauty and Untapable, who both were beaten here earlier in the meet. Take Charge Brandi finished far back in the Adirondack but eight weeks later found herself in the winner’s circle after upsetting the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She has not lost since, winning three subsequent starts, but comes into the Test idle since Jan. 31 due to a non-displaced stress fracture in her right knee.
“I don’t think seven-eighths is ideal for her. I think she’s better at two turns,” trainer D. Wayne Lukas said this week.
By the Moon, who won her maiden here last summer before finishing a distant second in the Spinaway, has not started since just failing to withstand Curalina’s final surge in the Acorn.
The field also includes the red-hot Irish Jasper, the stakes-placed Kathballu, allowance winner So You Say, and the New York-bred Bar of Gold.
Test Stakes, Race 8
KEY Contenders
Cavorting (Last 3 Beyers: 100-41-61)
She owns the only triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure in the Test field, the 100 she earned for her victory in the Jersey Girl.
Take Charge Brandi (Last 3 Beyers: 78-87-85)
Despite being the reigning 2-year-old filly champion, she has never run a Beyer higher than 87.
DRF Formulator Fact: Lukas has just a 3 percent success rate, one win from 31 starters, returning from layoffs of six months or longer over the last five years.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 4 Take Charge Brandi. Trainer D. Wayne Lukas is 31-1-3-1 with a $0.69 ROI over the past five years with all horses returning from a layoff of 180 days or more. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Angela Renee (Last 3 Beyers: 72-85-85)
She more than held her own working in company with the older multiple Grade 1 winner Stopchargingmaria going a half-mile July 26 before galloping out five-eighths on even terms in 1:00.05 and pulling up six furlongs in 1:13.55.
Wonder Gal (Last 3 Beyers: 79-90-76)
She ran on willingly despite losing considerable ground as the tepid favorite in the 1 1/16-mile Mother Goose.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 6 Wonder Gal. Trainer Leah Gyarmati 56-4-4-12 with a $0.91 ROI over the past five years going route to sprint on dirt. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 9 Bar of Gold. Trainer John Kimmel is 68-3-11-11 with a $0.71 ROI over the past five years going route to sprint on dirt. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 10 Pleasant Tales. Trainer Dallas Stewart is 60-1-8-9 with $0.58 ROI over the past five years in graded stakes on dirt; 25-0-4-4 in Grade 1 stakes on dirt. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan