Year 16 • No. 17 Firday, August 12, 2016 T he aratoga Saratoga’s Daily Newspaper on Thoroughbred Racing Rachel Alexandra Zenyatta Tod Marks Tod Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta, Ramon Dominguez, 2016 Hall of Fame Edition Steve Asmussen, Tom Ochiltree, Wayne D. Wright, Arthur “Bull” Hancock, William Woodward Sr. 2 THE SARATOGA SPECIAL FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2016 here&there... at Saratoga LICENSE PLATES OF THE DAY (CORRECTED) BLDSTK, Pennsylvania, belongs to Russell Jones. Rick Abbott’s Pennsylvania tag is PINHOOK. Does anybody have RNA? NAMES OF THE DAY Daves Gone Bananas, 10th race. Just because. Adulator, seventh race. Centennial Farm’s 3-year-old colt is by Flatter out of Need. Courtmewithcarats, fifth race.The 2-year-old filly is by Court Vision out of Diamond Song. NAMES OF THE DAY (OUT OF TOWN) The All Button, sixth race at Del Mar Wednesday and unintended handicapping advice submit- ted by reader Don Reed. The 2-year-old colt, trained by Doug O’Neill, finished sixth. BY THE NUMBERS 2: Winners at the meet for deceased Irish stallion Big Bad Bob – Grade 1 jumper Bob Le Beau and $25,000 claimer Belle Et Bete. 1: Voice mail (from the printer) looking for information on Thursday’s paper Wednesday night (there was no Thursday paper). 1: Text message (from a reader) looking for Thursday’s paper on the website (there was no Thursday paper). 1: Phone call (from a reader) looking for Thursday’s paper at the racetrack (there was no Connie Bush Thursday paper). Free Shipping. Sheila has her priorities straight at the track. Stop by for a visit.. Magnificent Compliments Maybe that’s why he’s called Emcee Our Emcee colt shows a lot of the qualities of his sire: very correct, beautiful balance with a great walk. One of the top physicals in our consignment. Pat Costello Paramount Sales The Emcees remind me exactly of their sire. I’m selling one who ticks all the boxes: size and scope, good bone – and she’s a real smooth mover. Stuart Angus Taylor Made Farm EMCEE Unbridled’s Song –Surf Club (Ocean Crest) First yearlings by the super-fast Standing at Sequel Stallions, New York in NEW YORK 859-255-8537or 800-925-2913 Forego hero are selling now www.darleyamerica.com Be a part of it FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2016 THE SARATOGA SPECIAL 3 QUOTE OF THE DAY “You didn’t give him instructions, but if you had something here&there... at Saratoga you thought he could do he listened and tried to do it. I always trusted his judgment.” WORTH REPEATING Trainer Larry Jones, about Ramon Dominguez’s riding “It was the culmination of a 3-year-old filly season like no other. If your description of it is, ‘it doesn’t get any better than this,’ you are accurate. If you say, with all common sense, ‘I can’t believe I just witnessed that. That just doesn’t happen,’ you are correct.” Trainer Steve Asmussen, on Rachel Alexandra’s 2009 Woodward victory “I would have liked to have seen him ride Kitten’s Joy. He was a little before Ramon came to prominence. At his peak, he was the best horse I ever had and I would have liked to have seen how he would have gotten along with him. Kitten’s Joy listened to his riders and would have 800-523-8143 loved Ramon.” Trainer Dale Romans, on teaming up with Ramon Dominguez “If that ain’t Saratoga, nothing is.” NAME OF THE DAY Kerry Cauthen on Alfred Nuckols’ colorful jacket, bright green pants and bowtie for Tuesday’s session of the Saratoga sale Irish Fix, fifth race.Isabelle de Tomaso’s 2-year-old filly is by Paddy O’Prado out of Contested Election. “What do you want me to talk about, I’m from Fargo, North Dakota.” The Special’s Annise Montplaisir after being reminded she was again talking about her favorite subject, South American-breds running at Saratoga YOUR SOURCE FOR NY-BREDS “Are we ever not in the weeds?” Phone: (518) 423-2028 www.saratogaglenfarm.com The Special’s Linzay Marks, to the daily “Weeds” comment made by editors on the status of the paper “That’s the last one we’re doing on camera today.” NYRA television host Jason Blewitt, sweating through Thursday’s first-race prattle Building Speed for the Future... DAAHER Awesome Again – Irish Cherry, by Irish Open ALBERTUS Kent Barnes, Stallion Manager 859-224-4585 MAXIMUS www.shadwellfarm.com Albert the Great – Chasethewildwind, by Forty Niner Editors/Publishers The aratoga Sean Clancy: (302) 545-7713. [email protected] Joe Clancy: (302) 545-4424. [email protected] Managing Editor Tom Law: (859) 396-9407. [email protected] 112 Spring Street, Suite 205 Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Writers/Handicappers: Charles Bedard, Gaile Fitzgerald, The Saratoga Special, thisishorseracing.com Teresa Genaro, Annise Montplaisir, John Shapazian, www.thisishorseracing.com Thoroughbred Racing Calendar, The Best of The Saratoga Special. Michael Smith, Chad Summers, Shayna Tiller, Brandon Valvo. Published Wednesday through Sunday* Call us about your editorial needs. Photographers: Tod Marks, Dave Harmon, Connie Bush. during the racing season. Home Office: 364 Fair Hill Drive, Suite F, Elkton, MD 21921 Layout/Design: Linzay Marks. Every day of Sales Week Aug. 8-14. (410) 392-5867 • Fax (410) 392-0170 *No edition Aug. 11, Sept. 1 Distribution: Jack Clancy, Gabe McGarry. 4 THE SARATOGA SPECIAL FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2016 Great memories Street Cry’s Medaglia d’Oro’s Zenyatta Rachel Alexandra Now inducted into the Hall Of Fame. Horses scarcely get any more famous… Zenyatta is in foal to Medaglia d’Oro Rachel Alexandra’s best foal, G1 winner Rachel’s Valentina, is by Bernardini Darley For sporting glory www.darleyamerica.com FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2016 THE SARATOGA SPECIAL 5 INTERESTING THINGS TO DO • Check out 2017 stallion prospect War Dancer at Sugar Plum Farm, 96 Gilbert Rd. at the corner here&there...at Saratoga of Union Avenue, less than a mile from Saratoga Race Course. The farm is holding an open WORTH REPEATING house from 12-3. “I couldn’t have enough to say about him.” • Trainer Gary Contessa will host three more Saratoga fan clinics this month. All are free and Trainer Todd Beattie, about Hall of Fame jockey Ramon Dominguez open to the public. Each starts at 11 a.m. Aug. 16: Horse Psychology. Location: Contessa’s barn 54 on the Oklahoma Training Track. How does a horse think? Aug. 23: How Can We Do “I’ve got seven up here, seven horses. I’m all filled up right now. I’ll find a stall if I need to, you This Better? Location: Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion. How can we make horse racing better? How know.” can we grow the sport, intelligently? What can we do for horses, fans and bettors that we’re Trainer Robert Falcone Jr. after Egyptian Rose won Friday’s second. not doing now? Aug. 30: An Insider’s View of the Oklahoma. Meet Contessa at the Whitney Viewing Stand at Oklahoma. Contessa will show you around the Oklahoma and give his 40-year-perspective. For more information, see garycontessa.com or call (859) 940-0568. Jack Clancy Dawn’s Early Light. An early morning galloper stops the sun for a moment. Raising and Selling Racehorses ® ® and its affiliate NICOMA Contact: Headley c: 859.221.5108 Price c: 859.321.5117 millridge.com nicoma.com Mill Ridge Moments John Stephen Hockensmith © 6 THE SARATOGA SPECIAL FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2016 The Chief . .Day 17 “Beau Purple came back from Chicago on the van, we didn’t even Building two-year-olds one individual at a time Kitzys Rocket and friends. fly him back. We had him nominated for the Man o’ War, we got to (859) 312-3414 | kirkwoodstables.com thinking all week…it was the last year they were going to race at the Proud to support Thoroughbred aftercare old Belmont before they made the new one, and so we put him in and we even took him over there the day before and he went an easy three-eighths on the grass. He looked like he was stumbling and fall- ing down on the grass. The kid came back and said, ‘I don’t know, he was stumbling…’ Most of the time when you put a horse on the grass for the first time, you think, ‘Man, he loved it.’ If you put 100 horses on the grass for the first time and ask the riders, they’ll say, ‘He loved it.’ Then you run them and you can’t find them. I didn’t think Beau Purple liked it at all. The next day, he beat every good horse in the country. He never run on the grass in his life.” – Trainer Allen Jerkens 1929-2015 The New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association www.nytha.com | 516.488.2337 visit us on Facebook Tod Marks (859) 224-2756 of the day www.thoroughbredaftercare.org nytbreeders.org | 518.587.0777 For more information visit our website or call 518.388.0174 FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2016 THE SARATOGA SPECIAL 7 with John Terranova Every day at Saratoga, The Special presents an exclusive Stable Tour with a Saratoga trainer. and is still a maiden. Hopefully he’ll break “This is where American Pharoah was last through at Saratoga. Very playful.” year. He ran first time out and he kind of got squeezed at the start in the slop and after that Harp n Halo: Winner of the Avowal Stakes he really didn’t know what was going on. But John Terranova’s Saratoga string end’s Whitney to walk through the last year at Woodbine, 5-year-old mare fin- he’ll run up here again later in the meet.” of 25 bustles with activity and move- barn with The Special’s Shayna Tiller.