Year 18 • No. 10 Saturday, August 4, 2018 The aratoga Saratoga’s Daily Racing Newspaper since 2001 See Biscuits Star New York-bred steams into Grade 1 Whitney Mind Your Biscuits ENTRIES & HANDICAPPING SATURDAY STAKES PREVIEWS HALL OF FAME CEREMONY Tod Marks Tod 2 THE SARATOGA SPECIAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2018 here&there...at Saratoga Presented by Neuman Equine Insurance ..................... equineinsurance.com LICENSE PLATES OF THE DAY ALYDAR, New York. AFRMED77, New York. Parked near each other, and angrily discussing the 1977 Travers. BY THE NUMBERS 1: Longtime fan who stopped in the office Friday with an FC Barcelona hat. 1: Longtime fan who stopped in the office Friday with a (first-place) Phillies hat. 1: Reader/advertiser/babysitter trying to figure out the number of times Special staffers change their shoes in a day. 20: Million-dollar (estimated) pricetag of a planned overhaul of the National Museum of Racing announced Friday. NAMES OF THE DAY Bird’s Eye View, first race.The 4-year-old gelding is by Mizzen Mast out of Lavish Outlook. Pas de Soucis, fifth race.The Irish-bred mare is by Footstepsinthesand, her name means “No Worries” in French and if your feet are in the sand, you’ve got no worries. Fabulous Fun, seventh race. The Phipps Stable’s 2-year-old colt is by Distorted Humor out of Boca Grande. Voodoo Song, 11th race. We hear he’s going to scratch, but the 4-year-old Saratoga specialist Tod Marks (four wins here last year) is out of Mystic Chant. Windependence Day. Timeless Beauty sports a patriotic nasal strip after win- ning Friday’s first race. darleyamerica.com GOLD GLORY Seven G1 winners in 2017! No American stallion has had so many in a year since Storm Cat. And now he has Travers prospect Wonder Gadot and Personal Ensign possible Elate. Medaglia d’Oro: siring stars who earn their stripes. Darley SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2018 THE SARATOGA SPECIAL 3 here&there...at Saratoga Presented by Neuman Equine Insurance ..................... equineinsurance.com WORTH REPEATING “Do you think they lower the hoop?” The Special’s David Woods, on the Jockeys vs. Horsemen basketball game Thursday night “Can I buy you a breakfast sandwich? You might not eat for a week.” Fasig-Tipton’s Dennis Lynch to The Special’s Ben Gowans “This is the reason we come up here, these golf carts. The racing is secondary. If we look at Now on Broadway. everything else we pay, this is the best $1,167 you could pay. This is our therapy. If I didn’t have a golf cart I’d be in therapy twice a day the entire meet.” Trainer Chad Summers after giving a ride to a clubhouse admissions employee Thursday morning Wear What You Love™ “Lunch went from like 10:30 to 2. I was 15 and scared to drive back to the barn.” Special reader Ed Gilpin, about time spent on old-time trainer Morris “Pop” Dixon’s crew in Pennsylvania when the boss went to Saratoga “. I’m driving up tomorrow, didn’t know if there’s anything from down here that needed to EMBRACE THE RACE® come your way: a pretty yellow dog named Katie, your wife, whatever. Just let me know. I’m 327 Broadway happy to bring along.” Fasig-Tipton Midlantic all-star Paget Bennett, Saratoga Springs leaving a message for The Special’s Joe Clancy Thursday embracetherace.com “I am an advertising novice.” Two-year-old consignor Paul Sharp, booking an ad with The Special Raising and Selling Racehorses ® ® and its affiliate NICOMA Barn 5 Hip 23 - CARPE DIEM - Lemon Splendor f. Hip 98 - TAPIT - Seattle Smooth f. Hip 106 - CURLIN - Shop Again f. Contact: Headley c: 859-221-5108 Price c: 859-321-5117 millridge.com nicoma.com 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] 259 East Avenue Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Writers: Ben Gowans, Sarah Newman, Shayna Tiller, The Saratoga Special, thisishorseracing.com Brandon Valvo, David Woods. (the old feed store) Thoroughbred Racing Calendar, The Best of The Saratoga Special. Handicappers: Charles Bedard, Donald Phillips, John Shapazian. thisishorseracing.com Call us about your editorial needs. Design: Todd Koch. Published Thursday through Sunday Home Office: 364 Fair Hill Drive, Suite F, Elkton, MD 21921 during the racing season. (410) 392-5867 • Fax (410) 392-0170 Photographers: Tod Marks, Dave Harmon, Connie Bush. Plus Monday, Aug. 6 and Tuesday, Aug. 7. Distribution & More: Jane Crager, Kevin Murphy, Morgan Yaeger. 4 THE SARATOGA SPECIAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2018 Alternation DISTORTED HUMOR – ALTERNATE, by SEATTLE SLEW 5 Blacktype Horses in 2018 including Stakes Winners ALTER MOON Gulfstream SW, who sold for $675,000 at FT Selected HRA Sale 2YO SUBSTITUTION 2 wins, 2 starts, $94,000 Iowa Stallion Futurity DIAMONDS R Irish Day S., 2nd Washington Oaks Broken Vow UNBRIDLED – WEDDING VOW, by NIJINSKY II 11 Blacktype Horses 5 Graded including CHOCOLATE MARTINI Fair Grounds Oaks-G2, placed Coaching Club American Oaks-G1, etc. MENDED 2nd Santa Margarita-G1 IMPRIMIS Wolf Hill S., Jim McKay Turf Sprint S., 5 wins 6 starts Pin Oak Stud Versailles, KY • (859) 873-1420 Inquiries to Clifford Barry or Nancy Stephens www.pinoakstud.com SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2018 THE SARATOGA SPECIAL 5 QUOTE OF THE DAY here&there...at Saratoga “When Billy Mott had the Paulson horses, we were stabled across from him at Payson Presented by Neuman Equine Insurance ..................... equineinsurance.com (Park) and I watched those horses – Cigar, Fraise, all those good horses he had – and they all had an air about them. Other horses, when they’d stand up on the track, would WORTH REPEATING give them another five feet walking around them just because they knew.” “Words to live by – do not be a bumbler.” – Trainer Jim Bond, about good horses Anonymous racetrack philosopher “What, is it the last day of the meet?” Trainer Bill Mott when seeing The Special’s Sean Clancy in the picnic area Thursday “I can hear you guys talking all the way down there, good thing I wasn’t someone else.” 800-523-8143 The Special’s Joe Clancy, taking advantage of some backside acoustics as Tom Law and Chad Summers talked Thursday morning “That’s fine, she doesn’t listen to me anyway.” Trainer Jonathan Thomas when told that Maryland, My Maryland exercise rider Tracy Price’s walkie-talkie wasn’t working Country Life Farm Reader Writing We don’t do this for the letters (well, emails) but boy do they make our day. Reader M.G. Blascetta sent this to us after reading the first edition. It’s got a little bit of everything. Enjoy. Yes! Thank you – I look forward to getting The Special all year long but come COUNTRY LIFE Saratoga time I keep checking my email starting in the wee hours of the morning for my copy...and daydream that I picked up coffee and egg on a roll with salt and FARM pepper at the Spring Street Deli, I’m sitting track-side watching the sun come up, watching the horses, having the breakfast of race-trackers everywhere and reading The Special . not at my computer working here on Long Island . and thinking maybe just maybe in a week or two I will be on the Taconic headed north to I-90 west to I-87 and the Northway anticipating the exit that takes me past the main track and Oklahoma, stopping for the horses crossing the street . maybe “Racing Across America” will have been restored and playing again at the museum and I ELLEN B. PONS B. ELLEN can see Secretariat. I worked for Lucien Laurin back in the day when Secretariat Maiden winner on 7/29 at Laurel and one to watch. first came to the barn at Belmont. We could see that he was something special and Dam is 100% winner producer. Siblings earned of course my first horse was a chestnut mare and my second horse is a chestnut 6-figures, including a GBPW. This filly’s ½ sister, gelding. by Palace Malice, is Hip # 213 at Fasig-Tipton Anyway – happy memories. Getting coffee and crumb cake from the kid selling Select Sale – Don’t miss her! them out of his front yard on the back entrance to Oklahoma . You can take the girl off the racetrack but you can’t take the racetrack off the girl even 40 years later and I still ride at 5 a.m. watching the sun come up before going Josh Pons 443-807-0644 v Mike Pons 410-459-8517 v Christy Holden 410-808-1325 into work – when I can start the day that way, I am a better person for it. Bel Air, MD 21014 • 410.879.1952 v countrylifefarm.com v [email protected] 4-Time GSW over $1.8 Million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile-G1over Gun Runner • Godolphin Mile -G2, etc. 1st Foals Arrived this Year TAMARKUZ by Speightstown Kent Barnes, Stallion Manager 859-224-4585 www.shadwellfarm.com 6 THE SARATOGA SPECIAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2018 The Top 10 The Special takes a swing at a list of the Photo of meet’s best – performances, achieve- ments, oddball feats of human or equine the Day wonder. We’ll update it daily, or we’ll try to anyway. And we’re off… 1. Imperial Hint. Vanderbilt July 28. You going to argue with that performance? Yearling to Special, small sprinter won Grade 1 with 2-year-old prep speed, style, simplicity. And we wrote Early arrivals at the sale.