FREE 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 9 • No. 3 SARATOGA’S DAILY NEWSPAPER ON THOROUGHBRED RACING Friday, July 31, 2009 Hear me now? Inside ✦ Lake George Racing UK PPs Preview Inside, Pg. 26 ✦ Entries & Handicapping ✦ Thursday’s racing recap Backtalk rallies ✦ Cup of Coffee with Sean Clancy to win Sanford Tod Marks photo Here & There at Saratoga Worth Repeating 517 Broadway, Suite 207 “This is as close to riding on a garbage truck as I hope I ever get.” Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Jack Clancy while riding on the back of the Special’s golfcart (Second Floor, around the back) “We call it Brigadoon. It just rises out of the mist.” Phone: (518) 490-1175 Mary Grant on the Saratoga reformation each season Sean Mobile: (302) 545-7713 Joe Mobile: (302) 545-4424 “Where are all the hispanics?” Jose Santos Jr., when watching five jumpers (ridden by Miller, E-mail: [email protected] Wyatt, Buchanan, Aizpuru and Hodsdon) school Wednesday or [email protected] morning. There was one, a gelding named El Viaje Internet: www.saratogaspecial.com “Do people try to say funny things to make the paper?” Jane Motion, while riding on The Special’s golfcart Wednesday Published Wednesday through Sunday during the racing season. “For a liberal newspaper, you tell the truth.” Every day of Sales Week Aug. 10-16. John Hennig The Staff “Depends on what circuit we’re at. On the New York circuit, he is. In Editors/Publishers: Sean Clancy, Joe Clancy Kentucky, now that’s a different story.” Staff Writers: Brian Nadeau, Karen Johnson, Jocks’ agent Lenny Pike when asked Ben Meyers, Katie Bo Williams, Colin Beaury who was the better agent, him or Matt Muzikar Photographers: Tod Marks, Dave Harmon, “They warmed up like one of those oldtimers who need twice around Connie Bush, Sarah Condon Clare Court before coming out to the main track. Once they warmed Handicappers: Pete Fornatale, John Pana- up, they played like a stakes horse.” got, Gaile Fitzgerald, John Shapazian Kip Elser, reviewing the Crosby, Stills and Nash Office Assistant: Jill Grant concert Tuesday night Distribution: Ryan Clancy, Jack Clancy, Nolan Clancy, Jane Motion “This is hazing.” Advertising Sales: Contact a Clancy or call The Special’s Ben Meyers on the working conditions Jon Bordeau (518) 812-4545 or Kathy Rubin at (203) 650-6815 “Nice haircut.” Jockey Ramon Dominguez to The Special’s Brian Nadeau, who cut off his ponytail during the off-season ST Publishing Inc. Home Office 364 Fair Hill Drive, Suite F, “Curlin.” Elkton, MD 21921 Barbara Banke, wife of owner Jess Jackson, when asked what (410) 392-5867 • Fax (410) 392-0170 got her interested in having her own racing stable Tod Marks www.st-publishing.com BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE. A seagull takes in the morning works [email protected] “So we can tell which ones are our’s.” at Oklahoma on Wednesday morning. Trainer Steve Asmussen on why The Saratoga Special his three boys were wearing the same color sweater Steeplechase/Eventing Times Thoroughbred Racing Calendar “Corte Pelo” The Best of The Saratoga Special “She took off.” Sign on a dorm window; means haircut in Spanish Jockey Robby Albarado when asked what Saratoga Days and other acclaimed Hot Dixie Chick did when he touched her with his whip products and services “He’s the only one I can ride any more.” within the equine industry. Trainer Dave Duggan about his lead pony “Are you kidding? This is like underwear. I don’t get dressed with- Call us about your editorial needs. out it.” Steeplechase trainer Todd Wyatt, By the Numbers “Editorial excellence is not a goal to be on the ever-present bandana in his back pocket 19: Geese flying over the Oklahoma track at 6:01 a.m. Thursday. sought and one day acquired and then retired to the trophy case. It is instead Wife, after the horse lost: “Now it’s time for a drink.” 9: Golf carts lined up for the turf works Wednesday morning. an ambition which must be pursued Husband: “It was time for a drink when you got up this morning, it each day, never ending, never totally was time for a drink when we got here and it’s been time for a drink 1: Bench painted in Rick Violette’s colors outside Graham Motion’s achieved. That striving, that ambition is all day . .” an essential part of our newspapers, a barn. cornerstone of what we have been, what we are, and what we will be.” “We’re off the list.” 1: Hit and run with a golf cart (not our’s) and a Subaru (our’s) Trainer Dave Donk after winning a race Wednesday morning, we know who you are. – Lee Hills, Pulitzer Prize winner, (and breaking the duck) Opening Day Knight Ridder chief executive, in 1974 HAMMERTOWN INSURANCE AGENCY Call to discuss “Fall of the Hammer” coverage for the upcoming sales. “PROTECTING EQUINE INVESTMENTS” s&5,,%15).%-/24!,)49 s34!,,)/.!6!),!"),)49!.$).&%24),)49 s"!22%..%33!.$02/30%#4)6%&/!, s./'5!2!.4%%#/.6%23)/.3 s%15).%,)!"),)49 s&!2-0!#+!'%3 Contact: Anya Sheckley PO Box 90, Pine Plains, NY 12567 Tel: 646-872-6843 Email: [email protected] Fax: 518-398-5143 Web: www.hammertowninsurance.com Tod Marks photo Tod 2 Friday, July 31, 2009 Here & There at Saratoga Vineyard Haven (Gr. l) Zensational (Gr. l) Go Go Shoot Bustin Stones (Gr. l) Macho Again (Gr. l) Icabad Crane (Gr. l) Tod Marks NOT VERY LADY LIKE. Rachel Alexandra rears after working out on Wednesday. Awesome Gem (Gr. l placed) Off the Turf 2008: 35 vs. 2009: 2 Buddy’s Humor (Gr. III) License Plates Dashing Debby FUNYCDE1 Little Nick One Winner Kiaran McLaughlin: “Expansion.” Forty Thieves Tim Ritvo: “My favorite horse runs Monday.” Sky Mystic Name of the Day Ten Most Wanted (Gr. l) Attractive Ride, ninth race: Merrill Scherer’s gelding is by Candy Ride out of Valid Attraction. Weather Stately Character (Gr. I) Today: Scattered thunderstorms. High of 77. Hopeful Image (Gr. II) Tonight: Clouds clearing. Low of 63. Saturday: Party cloudy. High of 83. Sunday: Scattered thunderstorms. High of 79. Toccet (Gr. l) Summer reading Soto (Gr. ll) The Special’s Colin Beaury got some expert advice from John DeMarco at Lyrical Ballad on Saratoga’s best summer reads. Coach Jimi Lee (Gr. II) The Big Horse by Joe McGinniss is about trainer P.G. Johnson, Bella Bellucci (Gr. l) and his Breeder’s Cup Classic winning horse, Volponi; a 44-1 long shot, Volponi was unquestionably Johnson’s “biggest” horse. This Fagedaboudit Sal book provides an in-depth look at a polarizing trainer and his mo- ment of glory. A longtime fixture in the New York racing scene, Johnson’s defining achievement as a trainer is revisited in The Big Galloping Grocer Horse. McGinniss’ book will pique the interest of New York racing fans, and readers who enjoy a great underdog story. Mazhilla (Gr. lll) Acey Deucey (Gr. l) Moon Catcher (Gr. l) CRUPI’S NEW CASTLE FARM 4625 N.W. 110th Avenue 121 Burgoyne Road, Schuylerville Ocala, FL 34482-1833 Bring your horses! Own a piece of history Phone: (352) 840-5400 0 Peters Road, Northumberland with this gracious circa 1810 Center Hall Great location surrounded by horse farms. Colonial. 12 acres of tranquility with post Cell: (352) 427-1600 Beautiful site on 5.6 acres of land with & beam out building and heated in-ground picturesque setting. Offered at $480,000 pool. Offered at $629,000 Fax: (352) 840-0661 Susan Svoboda Contact Jim Crupi homesfromsusan.com 1 (866) 313-5400 518-871-9040 [email protected] www.newcastlefarm.com Friday, July 31, 2009 3 All Talk from Backtalk Kentucky 2YO comes up big in Gr. II stakes BY SEAN CLANCY Tom Amoss raised his glass and laughed when the television in the Trustees’ Room showed five minutes to post for the fourth at Hoosier Park. “The Saratoga of the midwest,” Amoss said. Good thing Amoss and SANFORD Goldmark Farm did better at the STAKES RECAP Saratoga of the East. Backtalk improved his re- cord to 3-for-3 with a steady and pro- fessional performance in a wild renew- al of the Grade II Sanford Thursday. Owned by Goldmark Farm and ridden by Miguel Mena, Backtalk steadily wore down Enumerate and Louisvil- leluminary to win the $150,000 stakes by a neck. See SANFORD page 6 Tod Marks Backtalk, far left, stayed perfect with a win in the Sanford on Thursday. 4 Friday, July 31, 2009 Friday, July 31, 2009 5 Amoss. latter fumbled the start, veering out barn this spring and stood out. “First of all he’s gorgeous, he’s a badly, then made up 10 lengths before “I win a lot of races, but we run a Sanford – really, really good looking horse. On ducking inside when Alan Garcia hit lot of claiming horses and allowance Continued from page 4 pedigree and style of running, you’ve him right-handed at the eighth pole. horses and I make no bones about it,” got to believe when they go further, he’s The second-choice finished fifth, beaten Amoss said. “I can probably count Goldmark and Amoss’ Courante going to be tough to handle,” Amoss just more than a length for everything. on one hand the number of $250,000 went off 3-5 at Hoosier but faded to said.