FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2020 DELGADOS CHASE DERBY RISING STARS SET TO LOCK HORNS IN DEEP SARATOGA SPECIAL by Alan Carasso DREAM WITH LATE- With the outposted Roderick (Into Mischief) scratching in favor of a start in Saturday=s GII Best Pal S. at Del Mar, a field of 10 is BLOOMING CARACARO set to face the starter for Friday=s GII Saratoga Special S.,headed by a trio of promising >TDN Rising Stars.= Trainer Steve Asmussen, already a four-time winner of the Special, sends out Stonestreet homebred Cazadero (Street Sense), who looks to take his record to a perfect three-for-three. The May foal, a son of MSW & GISP Wild Gams (Forest Wildcat), set a pressured early pace before romping clear by 8 3/4 lengths on Churchill debut May 29 and showed a bit of a new dimension last time, sitting off a faster tempo before kicking home to win the June 27 GIII Bashford Manor S. by 4 3/4 lengths. Cazadero will attempt to join former Asmussen trainees Cuvee (2003), Kodiak Kowboy (2007), Kantharos (2010) and fellow >Rising Star= Copper Bullet (2017). Cont. p4 Caracaro | Mike Kane IN TDN EUROPE TODAY MILITARY STYLE GAME IN TYROS By Mike Kane Military Style (War Front) was ultra game in the G3 Tyros S. at SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - This summer, the road to Churchill Leopardstown on Thursday, leading pillar-to-post. Click or tap Downs runs through upstate New York and has brought here to go straight to TDN Europe. Caracaro (Uncle Mo) from South Florida for the historic GI Runhappy Travers S. Saturday. Though the Travers is often the late-August goal for the owners and trainers of talented 3-year-olds, the COVID-19 pandemic has produced a serious rewrite of the schedule for elite races and briefly changed its status. Long ago dubbed the "Midsummer Derby," the 2020 Travers at Saratoga Race Course is a stepping stone to the GI Kentucky Derby Sept. 5. In their quest for Derby points, trainer Gustavo Delgado and his son and assistant Gustavo Delgado, Jr. shipped lightly raced Caracaro to Saratoga Race Course last month. Caracaro earned 20 points with his narrow second-place finish to Country Grammer (Tonalist) in the GIII Peter Pan S. on opening day, July 16. Those Peter Pan points have him in 25th place, close, but still outside the safety zone to secure one of the 20 berths. The Travers, with 100-40-20-10 points available, is their last chance. "We're thinking about qualifying for the Derby," Delgado, Jr. said. "If he runs in the top three and he comes out good, hopefully we will make the Derby. Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Friday, August 7, 2020 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Deputy Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Associate Editors Christina Bossinakis @CBossTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN News and Features Editor In Memoriam: Ben Massam (1988-2019) ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistant/Dir. Of Distribution Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew Terry Finley, Ramon Dominguez, Dale Romans and Angel Cordero joined moderator [email protected] Tom Durkin at last week’s Champions Talk in Saratoga to benefit the Racetrack Chaplaincy of New York. The fundraiser is the only one planned for the charity, which Social Media Strategist Justina Severni aids backstretch workers in New York. Click the photo to watch the video; visit https://www.rtcany.org/donate-now to donate. | Skip Dickstein Director of Customer Service Vicki Forbes [email protected] ON AFTERCARE: JENNIFER MCVOY’S OUT SIDE IN 6 Marketing Manager Diana Pikulski introduces us to Jennifer McVoy, who founded Out Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen Side In, a Grand Haven, Michigan-based, TAA-accredited aftercare Director of IT & Accounting facility that serves as home to 18-22 OTTBs on some 25 acres. Ray Villa [email protected] [email protected] TODAY’S GRADED STAKES EST Race Click for TV WORLDWIDE INFORMATION 5:46p Saratoga Special S.-GII, SAR TJCIS PPs SAR Live/FS2 International Editor Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN 8:39p Sorrento S.-GII, DMR TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | 732-747-8955 (fax) www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 11 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • AUGUST 7, 2020 Caracaro/Delgado cont. from p1 Caracaro is making his fourth career start for co-owners Global Thoroughbred and Top Racing and drew post seven in the eight-horse Travers. He will be ridden by Javier Castellano, who holds a record six victories in this event. Delgado, a hugely successful trainer in his native Venezuela, laughed as he said that the colt--who was injured after his maiden victory Jan. 11 and had six months between starts this year--might make it to the Derby after all. "Right now, with the pandemic there is a chance," he said. "If there is no pandemic there is no chance." Delgado, Jr. stepped in and translated the rest of his father's words: "I would say that the only good thing about the virus is that we have a shot in the Derby again." If Caracaro delivers a big performance in the 151st Travers, he would take the Delgados to their third Derby. Since emigrating from Venezuela in 2014 and opening a stable in Florida, they have had Majesto (Tiznow), 18th in 2016, and Bodexpress (Bodemeister), 13th last year. Delgado, Jr. said they did everything to get to Louisville with Majesto and Bodexpress. "There is no comparison to this horse," Delgado Jr. said. "This horse is way more talented than the last two." Caracaro showed that ability in his six-length win in the one-mile maiden score at Gulfstream, the second start of his career. The performance made him a Derby prospect and Rafael "After the maiden race, there was a big group interested," Celis of Global Thoroughbreds and his partner Lucas Noriego, Delgado, Jr. said. "When we were doing the X-ray for the sale, who competes as Top Racing, had offers to buy the colt. During that's when he found out he had that. We did the right thing and the vetting process, he was found to have a bone issue in is hind gave him time. Our guess is that he was running with that end that scuttled the sale. Caracaro did not need surgery, but problem before. He always showed something behind, nothing required a three-month layoff. major, but that's when we found out. Then we did the right thing and gave him time. We always considered him a good horse." Caracaro stayed with the Delgados at Gulstream Park West and returned to light training after his three-month hiatus. He had five breezes before making the trek to Saratoga to try to earn his way into the Derby. He moved to the lead of the Peter Pan in the stretch, but was collared by Country Grammer and lost by a neck. Delgado said he would have skipped the Travers if Caracaro had won the 1 1/8 miles Peter Pan and earned 50 points. "We would go seven weeks [to the Kentucky Derby] not three weeks [to the Travers]," he said. "Seven weeks is very good. For the horse. For me. Every owner in the world likes to get to the Kentucky Derby." Delgado, Jr. picked up the translation for his father: "Normally, we would like to have more time between races, but right now Gustavo Delgado, Jr. | Mike Kane we don't have any more options." Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 11 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • AUGUST 7, 2020 After the Peter Pan, Celis and Noriega--who also are partners Saratoga Special cont. from p1 in Bodexpress--heard from interested buyers, but they have "It=s nice to have a couple of races under his belt heading into retained ownership. a race like this at Saratoga," said Asmussen's chief assistant This weekend Caracaro will try again in the Travers, first run in Scott Blasi. "He came in very well-respected and hasn't done 1864 and the marquee event of the Saratoga season. It was anything wrong yet." moved ahead a few weeks from its usual spot in late August to First-call rider Ricardo Santana, Jr. retains the mount on make it a Derby prep. This will be the earliest running of the Cazadero, while Joel Rosario takes the call on Jackie=s Warrior race since 1916. (Maclean=s Music), a 2 1/2-length maiden winner at first asking in Louisville June 19. Second on that occasion was Therideofalifetime (Candy Ride {Arg}), who franked the form of the winner when swooshing home to graduate by 8 1/4 lengths at Keeneland July 11, good for the >Rising Star= nod. Jose Ortiz, aboard in Lexington, is at the controls again Friday. Cont. p5 Gustavo Delgado | Mike Kane "We are here. The horse really likes the track," Delgado, Jr. said. "He ran second and he ran a helluva race. The Travers is close to the Derby, but it will be hard for us telling the owners we don't want to run in the Travers.