Tommy Jo, Iron Orchard return to take on Goodall in Victory Ride

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Tommy Jo and Iron Orchard, a pair of Grade 1-winning 2-year-old fillies from last year, make their belated seasonal debuts in Friday’s Grade 3, $225,000 Victory Ride Stakes at Saratoga. But Goodall, who has connections to that duo, may be the one to beat in the 6 1/2-furlong stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

Goodall, a daughter of Yaupon owned by Spendthrift Farm and trained by Steve Asmussen, is coming off a victory in the six-furlong Jersey Girl Stakes here on June 4. It was her third win from five career starts and her second stakes success of the season.

In the Jersey Girl, Goodall raced between horses down the backstretch, before running away from Carmel Coast and Mythical, the second- and third-place finishers, in the stretch. Carmel Coast and Mythical are both back in this field. Goodall won despite jockey Flavien Prat losing his whip at the quarter pole.

“It was excellent,” Asmussen said. “I like the fact she ran 1:08 and 3 at Saratoga and has trained really well since. She disappointed in the Eight Belles [fifth]; she ran so bad that day. Don’t have a good excuse for a bad performance.”

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Friday, Goodall will break from the outside post in this 10-horse field.

Goodall’s connection to Tommy Jo is that both are owned by Spendthrift Farm. Goodall’s connection to Iron Orchard is that both are trained by Asmussen.

Last summer at Saratoga, Tommy Jo won her maiden and the Grade 1 Spinaway here. Tommy Jo, trained by Todd Pletcher, finished second to Percy’s Bar in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland but was elevated to first when the stewards disqualified Percy’s Bar for interference. Tommy Jo then finished fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar last Oct. 31 and has not run since. She missed the first half of the year due to bone bruising.

Tommy Jo’s most recent workouts have been fast, but she’s been a bit headstrong at the beginning of each of them.

“I’m not worried about it,” Pletcher said. “In her races she’s never been rank. I think sprinting, there’ll be enough pace on where you won’t have to take a big hold of her.”

Last summer, at Saratoga, Iron Orchard won her first two starts, both against New York-breds, including the Seeking the Ante Stakes. Then trained by Danny Gargan, Iron Orchard stretched out to a mile to win the Grade 1 Frizette at Aqueduct. She finished last in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, a race in which she stumbled at the start.

Iron Orchard, a New York-bred daughter of Authentic, was moved to Asmussen during the winter and returns to Saratoga to begin her 3-year-old campaign.

“It’s easy to see she handled one turn well at Saratoga last summer and she’s doing really well, but of course the plan is to stretch her back out,” Asmussen said. “This is where we think we should start.”

Iron Orchard, from post 2 under Joel Rosario, and Carmel Coast, from post 3 under Tyler Gaffalione, as well as Mythical, from post 7 under Edgard Zayas, all prefer to be forward when sprinting.

A Fine Chardonnay and Sneaky Good finished one-two in the Grade 2 Beaumont Stakes at Keeneland and meet again in this field. A Fine Chardonnay is trying to bounce back from a fifth-place finish in the six-horse Leslie’s Lady Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 7. A Fine Chardonnay is trained by Ian Wilkes, who also entered Sippin Pretty in the field. Sippin Pretty finished sixth in the Eight Belles.

Peach Tie has won five of her last six starts and six of eight overall, including a victory in the Grade 3 Miss Preakness Stakes. Her lone defeat on dirt came when she was beaten a head in the Beyond the Wire Stakes going one mile at Laurel Park in March.

Manny Franco will ride Peach Tie from post 6 for Brittany Russell.

Tessellate, trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., finished second to Peach Tie in the Miss Preakness after winning a Florida-bred stakes handily at Tampa Bay Downs in March.

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