Inside Stretch
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SUBSCR ER IPT IN IO A N R S T COMPLIMENTS OF T !2!4/'! O L T IA H C E E 4HE S SP ARATOGA Year 7 • No. 10 SARATOGA’S DAILY NEWSPAPER ON THOROUGHBRED RACING Sunday, August 5, 2007 Rush Hour Dream Rush blows away the field in the Test. Dave Harmon Filly beats traffic THE TEST steadily grinding her way down the long Saratoga Inside stretch. “Come on girl. Come on girl. Come on girl,” Finley to claim Grade I screamed. ❱ Brilliant tries to live up BY SEAN CLANCY Then as she came past the sixteenth-pole and past Finley’s vision, the cheering turned to pleading. to name in Fourstardave. Dream Rush and Eibar Coa rocketed to the lead in “Give me the wire. Give me the wire. Give me the the Darley Test, Terry Finley checked the toteboard. wwwwire.” ❱ The first-quarter clocking flashed – 22.26. Finley got the wire and Dream Rush got her second Carry Back’s jockey John “Not bad,” Finley said. consecutive Grade I victory, hitting the line 2 lengths Nearing the half-mile pole, Finley asked, “What’s in front of Boca Grande who closed from 10th to nail Sellers makes 2007 Hall the half?” Baroness Thatcher by a neck. Owned by West Point Dream Rush zipped past the half-mile pole – Thoroughbreds, Lewis Lakin and John Sikura, Dream of Fame class. 44.59. Rush finished the 7-furlong distance in 1:22.42. Nobody said anything . well, other than track an- After five wins from seven starts – most of them ❱ Michael McDonald tees nouncer Tom Durkin who called it, “an eye-popping wire jobs – Dream Rush highlighted a solid Test pro- half of 44 and 2 for Dream Rush.” gram. Run 81 times before, the race has long attracted it up at Saratoga. At the head of the stretch, Dream Rush opened deep fields and the winner always earns it. Trained by up 5 1/2-lengths on her pursuers. Finley’s right foot Rick Violette, Dream Rush tried distances beyond 6 started slapping the wooden floor of the West Point 1/2 furlongs on two occasions, winning the Old Hat ❱ Sunday Entries. Thoroughbreds’ box, overlooking the sixteenth-pole. at Gulfstream this winter and squandering the 1-mile Whap, whap, whap, whap. Acorn in the dying strides on Belmont Stakes Day. The Coa was doing the same, he hit Dream Rush right- 7-furlong distance was about the last straw for her op- ❱ Expert Handicapping. handed, then switched to his left, went back to his right. The daughter of Wild Rush was on auto-pilot, See THE TEST page 2 a merry-go-round, warms up like a lead “I was very disappointed but I wasn’t pony, then breaks from the gate like riding her the whole time, I rode her one The Test – she’s late for dinner. time and I was hoping to get her back, Continued from page 1 “You’ve got to use her speed. I was I was disappointed but it wasn’t like very surprised I was going so slow, they took her from me, she wasn’t my ponents to grab. It slipped through their she can go faster than that any time, horse,” Coa said. “I was a little bit hap- grasp in a matter of strides. they let me go and that helped,” Coa py when she got beat, thinking I might ? Undefeated in three rides on Dream said. “Maybe I went that slow because get a chance to get her back. I have so Rush, Coa knew it all along. I didn’t want to go to the lead, I was much confidence in her. There was no Hey Rick Violette, did you like “I never thought she could get beat,” just sitting so I took the lead easy, then way they were going to beat her.” Coa said. “I knew she was the best nobody pressured me through the sec- Violette rivals Coa in confidence. The Dream Rush from the star? horse, she’s just too good for them. ond quarter. I was already laughing by day before the Test, the trainer said he She’s a little Cadillac, she does every- the three-eighths pole, everything was didn’t fear anything. “I liked her but she was a dead- thing you ask her. You don’t have to over.” “It wasn’t gamesmanship, it was just head, a half in 52, for two months. worry about anything. In the paddock Coa guided Dream Rush to win the a good, honest evaluation.” Violette I was like, ‘OK, can we see a little they said, ‘Break and take it from there.’ Nassau County on Derby Day when he said, on his way to the trustees room. “I I said, ‘No, she’ll break and take it from happened to be in town while Garrett left her pretty sharp, I was tempted to something here?’ Then she worked there.’ ” Gomez, who won twice on her last fall, try to tweak things too much and I said, 46 and change out of the gate here Dream Rush has patented assertive- was in Kentucky. Violette went back to ‘screw it, it’s her asset.’ Keep her happy, late in the meet last year, the light ness. Bred by James Petrey in Kentucky, Gomez for the Acorn where she suc- keep her sound. She battled a little skin bulb went on that day.” she’s relaxed in the morning, walks cumbed to Cotton Blossom going a disease before the Prioress, she had a around the paddock like she belongs on mile. Coa knew the door was ajar. little crud in her lungs before the Nas- sau County. Nothing went wrong in the last three weeks, she’s eating good, she’s sleeping, she looks spectacular. Like I said, if you couldn’t walk over confi- dent, then go drive cabs or something, because you’re in the wrong game. ” Violette has won big races, but never one that carries the rich importance like the Test. “It’s a different level, winning a big race with a special filly, great fillies have won this race, great fillies have gotten beat in this race,” Violette said. “This is one of the premier races in the country. This is what gets you out of bed.” Daniel Sigal Enamels 508 East Main Street #302 Lexington, KY 40508 (859) 221-1414 • [email protected] www. danielsigal.com *By Commission Only Tracey Tooker Hats Hand-made designer hats for the races at Saratoga or anywhere. At La Sartoria 506 Broadway, Saratoga Springs and Gideon Putnam Hotel Gift Shop Sunday, Monday and Tuesday August 5-7 631-796-4243 2 Sunday, August 5, 2007 Here & There at Saratoga Th e ARATOGA 71 Lincoln Avenue Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Phone: (518) 490-1175 or (302) 545-7713 Fax: (518) 490-6520 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.saratogaspecial.com Published Wednesday through Sunday during the racing season. Every day of Sales Week Aug. 6-12. The Staff Editors/Publishers: Sean Clancy, Joe Clancy Copy Chief: Jamie Santo Writers/Contributors: Alysse Jacobs, Karen Johnson, David Kosak, Brian Nadeau, Katherine Sarasohn, Rebecca Walton Art Director: Kevin Titter Racing Analysts: Pete Fornatale, Alan Mann Photographers: Dave Harmon, Tod Marks, Barbara Livingston Menial Tasks Division: Ryan Clancy, Jack Clancy, Nolan Clancy Dave Harmon National Equine Product Advertising: Soap-opera star Susan Lucci stops by the winner’s circle after John Velazquez’s victory in the 10th race aboard Sweet Brush. Debbie LaBerge (717) 529-2158 “Tell him to stop chopping up his quotes like a salad.” ST Publishing Inc. Home Office Names of the Day – Fifth Race Edition Santo about a college intern’s article 364 Fair Hill Drive, Suite F, These three are all in the same race today: Elkton, MD 21921 “What horse would you name that?” The Material Girl, fifth race. The 2-year-old filly by Songandaprayer out Trainer Neil Howard on the name, Brilliant (410) 392-5867 • Fax (410) 392-0170 of Blondie Logic hopes to gain some of Madonna’s fame today’s for trainer www.st-publishing.com Philip Serpe and owner Flying Zee Stables “Man, I thought I’d at least get Name of the Day.” Owner Steve Zorn, about yesterday’s runner, Watson I Need You, The Saratoga Special Dose Of Reality, fifth race.A 2-year old filly by Freud out of Take It to War, by Phone Trick out of Pleasant Ring The Special at Keeneland she wants to slip into the winner’s circle under the tutelage of trainer Gary Steeplechase/Eventing Times Contessa for owner Winning Move Stables. “The first summer I came up here, I made $800 working the sales. I lost Thoroughbred Racing Calendar most of it on the van ride home, playing poker with a guy named Red.” The Best of The Saratoga Special Sounds Tacky, fifth race. This 2-year-old filly is trained by Scott Schwartz Consignor John Stuart, on working at the sales Saratoga Days and owned by Herbert and Carol Schwartz. By Tactical Cat out of Sounds American Steeplechasing yearbook Fishy, she sounds pretty good to us. Take A Number National Steeplechase Association 1: Bus that tried to drive through the pedestrian gate at the Union Avenue public relations consultants, Local Baseball Update entrance to Saratoga Race Course Saturday morning. The driver said he custom Tervis Tumbler glasses was just going in to park. Sorry buddy, you’ve got to use the lot like ev- and lawn jockeys. The Saratoga Phillies lost their playoff game Friday night, to leave their eryone else.