Klaravich Stables’ Idea Generationearned a 96 Beyer SpeedFigure, according to Daily Racing Form, for her first victory againstwinners Saturday in the Grade 2, $500,000 Flower Bowl, a 1 3/8-mile inner-turftest for older fillies and mares at Saratoga.
Brightwork got an 89 Beyer for her victory Saturday in the $200,000Prioress (G3), and Immersive was graded with an 84 for her win in the $300,000Spinaway (G1).
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Trainer Chad Brown expressed his pride in the effort fromIdea Generation, who Florent Géroux rode to a 1 1/2-length win in the Flower Bowlwith a time of 2:18.97. He also was happy about McKulick, who finished third.
“She came out of it good,” Brown said about Idea Generation.“I was pretty comfortable. She was going pretty easily out there, and thelonger the race went on, I was feeling like she had a chance to wire them. Ithought McKulick still had a good chance. She was moving up good on the turn,but Idea Generation just had another gear. I’m not sure what I’m going to dowith either one of them yet.”
The Flower Bowl was the 12th graded stakes win at theSaratoga meet for Brown, who has clinched his seventh training title at the Spawith two days left in the 39-day meet. Among those graded wins was Thursday’s 11/16-mile Grade 3 With Anticipation with recent European importZuluKingdom, who prevailed by a neck over Tenacious Leader.
Brown said the juvenile son of Ten Sovereigns, owned byMadaket Stables, Michael Dubb, William Strauss and Michael Caruso, will be pointedto the 1 1/16-mile, $200,000 Pilgrim (G2) on Sept. 28 at Belmont at the Big A,a win-and-you’re-in qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Nov. 1 atDel Mar.
“He’s been a horse who trained really good, looked around alot,” Brown said. “I thought he may have needed a race to sort of get his senseabout him in America, but man, he was more mentally prepared than I expected. Iwas very pleased with that.”
Bred in Ireland by Écurie Peregrine, Zulu Kingdom is 2-for-2after graduating on debut June 4 at Saint-Cloud, France, when she was in thecare of conditioner André Fabre. Out of the Smart Strike mare Zindziswa, he isa half-brother to France stakes winner Zulu Warrior.
Brightwork is highlight of John Ortiz’s summer
Trainer John Ortiz has enjoyed a tremendous Saratoga summermeet, posting an 11: 6-1-1 record topped by a winning return from Grade 1 winnerBrightworkinthe Prioress.
“It’s always great to come to Saratoga,” Ortiz said. “It'sone of the biggest stages in the world, and it’s a place where you want to beseen and recognized to be doing well at. Having success at Saratoga issomething you want on your résumé, but when you crush the meet like we did thisyear, it speaks volumes about our team.”
Brightwork returned from a nearly 10-month layoff to go inthe Prioress, a six-furlong sprint for 2-year-old fillies. With Luis Sáez riding,she prevailed by a neck with a time of 1:10.86. The winning effort matched acareer-best 89 Beyer.
“She just proved us right that she’s an athlete,” Ortiz said.“She looked so tired coming down the stretch, and (runner-up) Two Sharp was sogame with her, and they had a really good horse race. But you could just seethe class and the heart that she has for this game. She loves it. She startsnickering any time you put the saddle on for training. She loves her job, andshe definitely proved it yesterday.”
In victory, the Outwork bay remained undefeated in fivesprint starts and is also undefeated in three Saratoga efforts, taking theAdirondack (G3) and Spinaway (G1) at Saratoga last year.
Ortiz said that, all being well, Brightwork will point tothe seven-furlong Raven Run (G2) on Oct. 19 at Keeneland.
“We’ll let her tell us where to go next,” Ortiz said. “Thisis the biggest effort I’ve seen her lay out in the afternoon. She was runningagainst 3-year-olds that have been running, and I want to make sure she comesout of it in good shape and has enough time to recover.”
Among the impressive list of 2-year-old maiden winners thismeet for Ortiz were Shortleaf Stable’s Kentucky homebredQuietsideandFour G Racing’sReining Flowers, both of whom made their stakes debuts duringthe past week.
Quietside, by Malibu Moon out of Grade 2-winningSpeightstown mare Benner Island, romped by 6 1/4 lengths at first asking in asix-furlong sprint Aug. 4 at Saratoga. She returned to action in Saturday’sseven-furlong Spinaway (G1), settling for second and landing 1 1/4 lengthsbehind rallying Immersive.
“She came out of the race in great form, bright-eyed,” Ortizsaid. “She ate up her dinner last night, and she jogged up sound for us thismorning. We’re super happy with the winning effort she put out there. Gettingcaught at the wire is just part of horse racing.”
Ortiz said Quietside is likely to go to the 1 1/16-mile Alcibiades(G1) on Oct. 4 at Keeneland.
“We think she’ll like the two turns in the long term,” Ortizsaid.
The Gasaway family’s Four G Racing has enjoyed a tremendous2024 season as the co-breeders and co-owners of Kentucky Derby winner MystikDan for trainer Kenny McPeek.
It also campaigns Kentucky homebred Reining Flowers, adaughter of Midnight Storm who graduated at third asking in a 1 1/16-mile turfroute on July 28 at Saratoga. She is a half-sister to Ortiz-trained, graded-stakes-placedCrown Imperial. Both fillies are out of winning Congrats mare Mi Fiori, ahalf-sister to 2019 Poker (G3) winner Gucci Factor.
Reining Flowers made her stakes debut in Wednesday’s listedP.G. Johnson, recovering from a poor start to finish third, just three-quartersof a length behind victorious Totally Justified.
“The Gasaways have done a good job with their homebreds thisyear,” Ortiz said. “That filly is just like her sister. They’re small fillies,but they have a huge stride and cover a lot of ground. They have a big turn offoot. We did lose a little momentum early into the race, but Luis kept hiscomposure, and knowing the filly has a big turn of foot, he tried to make amove at the right time, and we were just a little short. That's another fillythat ran a winning effort.”
Immersive gets career-best 84 in Spinaway
Godolphin’s Kentucky homebredImmersivestalked andpounced to a 1 1/4-length victory in Saturday’s muddy $300,000 Spinaway (G1), runningthe seven furlongs for 2-year-old fillies in 1:25.31. She recorded a career-best84 Beyer, a marked improvement from a first-out 68.
“She showed she has a tremendous amount of class to overcomethe 1 hole. Manny (Franco) did a good job of putting her in a good position oftracking the frontrunners,” Cox said. “Then she was able to show her staminaand class late to get by a very good filly (Quietside) inside the finalsixteenth. She had a big gallop-out, and I’m looking forward to getting heraround two turns.”
Cox said Immersive’s target will be the Alcibiades.
“She looked good. We expected her to run big and she did. Wealways thought she showed the potential to stretch out. She got theseven-eighths, and she should handle two turns. We will ship her back toKentucky on Monday and zero in on the Alcibiades and go from there,” Cox said.
Also victorious for Cox on Saturday at the Spa was SienaFarm and WinStar Farm’sFederal Judge.The 4-year-old Army Mulegelding earned a 95 Beyer when winning a 6 1/2-furlong optional claimer by sixlengths over multiple graded-stakes-placed Accretive. The effort was his secondstart off more than a one-year layoff.
Cox said Federal Judge could be seen on the same Keenelandcard as Immersive and go in the $350,000 Phoenix (G2), a six-furlong sprint for3-year-olds and up.
“It was a big run, second race off a lengthy layoff, and heran big,” Cox said. “We are looking forward to letting him kind of chill out.He will ship to Kentucky, and we will go from there.”
Cox’s success at the Spa wasn’t limited to Saturday.WestHollywood captured the Saranac (G3), a 1 1/16-mile turf test for 3-year-oldsFriday. He assumed the lead when pacesetting The Big Torpedo sustained whatproved to be a fatal injury to his left-front leg in the stretch run. Theincident caused Cox traineeTake Me To Churchto alter course,unseating Hall of Famer Javier Castellano.
“(West Hollywood) is good. He came out in good order,” Coxsaid. “We will ship south tomorrow, and the colt that went down (Take Me ToChurch) came out as good as you could considering the circ*mstances. He’sscratched up a little bit, but overall I’m pretty happy with how he came out ofit.”
Cox said no spots have been determined for either horse yet,but the $600,000 Bryan Station (G3) on Oct. 26 at Keeneland is under strongconsideration, because the race is contested at one-mile for sophom*ores.
Army Officer was on Sunday’s Oklahoma training turf tab. He breezeda solo half-mile in 48.2 seconds, according to New York Racing Association clockers.The Not This Time dark bay last ran seventh in the one-mile National Museum ofRacing Hall of Fame (G2) on Aug. 2 at Saratoga.
Army Officer has been pointed to the $1.5 million GunRunner, a one-mile test for 3-year-olds next Sunday at Kentucky Downs.
“He breezed well today,” Cox said. “We will ship him downtomorrow.”
