Travers 8/24 G1 1M

Sorry girls but it's the right thing to do as you know.

Oxbow’s injury eliminates Travers bid
By David Grening
08/06/2013
DRF

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - D. Wayne Lukas made official on Tuesday what had been widely speculated for the last week - Preakness winner Oxbow will not run in the $1 million Travers Stakes here on Aug. 24.

Thus, the anticipated showdown between this year's three Triple Crown winners will have to wait for another day, if it ever happens at all.

Oxbow suffered an ankle injury in finishing fourth in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 28. The day after, Lukas indicated that a start in the Travers was doubtful, but he didn't rule it out. On Tuesday, he did.

"I pretty much resolved that we're not going to try and make the Travers," Lukas said. "We may look at the Pennsylvania Derby [on Sept. 21] or something like that. That's more realistic."

On Tuesday, Lukas said the ankle is "looking better every day" but he doesn't want to push the issue. Oxbow is being hand-walked twice a day and could resume light training next week.
"I've got enough athletic background in me to know that sometimes they look better, but then you push a little bit and it reoccurs," Lukas said. "I've got a good X-ray and a good ultrasound. I don't want to create something if I don't need to."

Though he won't have Oxbow to run against Kentucky Derby winner Orb and Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice in the Travers, Lukas will still be represented by Jim Dandy runner-up Will Take Charge in the race.

On Tuesday, Will Take Charge worked an easy four furlongs in 51.02 seconds over the Oklahoma training track.

"We'll get a little more serious with the next one," Lukas said. "He's right on target. He's had a really good couple of weeks up here. He eats better and does better up here."
Others pointing to the Travers are Verrazano, Moreno, Transparent, Romansh, and Java's War

oxbow? who is he? oh yeah, yesterdays news. the latest of Lukas's horses he has run into the ground. I remember him now!!

I only defend baffert because no one else does. everyone deserves some sort of representation, and the rest of you seem to think lukas is mr. rogers and baffert is sauron the evil eye from lord of the rings. lukas is the original break down artist, yet everyone wants to treat him as if he is mr. innocent. I read these posts about owners and trainers being just about money in todays game. are you serious? lukas tried to buy the game in the 80's and 90's and the only reason he stopped is because he bankrupted all of his top owners. and even now, with his first major tc horse in 15 years, he seems hell bent on running him into the ground also. as badly as you all think baffert, oneil, hollendorfer, or any other trainer is today, multiply that times 10 and you have lukas.

Kentucky Derby winner Orb to arrive Sunday for G1 Travers
By NYRA Press Office

Kentucky Derby winner Orb is scheduled to arrive at Saratoga Race Course on Sunday to finish his preparations for the Grade 1, $1 million Travers on August 24, Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey said Wednesday morning.

Orb will have one more breeze at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland on Saturday and ship the following day to McGaughey's barn next to the Oklahoma training track.

Since arriving at Fair Hill shortly after running third in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, his most recent start, Orb has worked five times including five furlongs in 1:00.00 on August 3.

"We kind of put our heads together and said, 'Let's get our last major work done there and then move him up here,'" McGaughey said. "I'm very relaxed with this. He'll have two weeks here. He'll have his major work, then have a week to get adapted here and we'll blow him out on Monday [August 19]. He'll have plenty of time to settle in."

Another horse McGaughey had at Fair Hill, multiple graded stakes winner Boisterous, is being pointed to the Grade 1, $600,000 Sword Dancer Invitational on August 17. The 6-year-old son of Distorted Humor won the Grade 1 Man o' War at Belmont Park, and on Sunday had his first Saratoga breeze since returning from Maryland, going a half-mile in 46.55 seconds on the Oklahoma training turf course.

"He's doing very well," McGaughey said. "He had a great work here the other day and came out of it really well. I thought his Man o' War as a very, very good race, and I'm looking forward to running him here."

McGaughey also took time to reflect on Lure, who will join his trainer in the Hall of Fame during Friday's 10:30 a.m. induction ceremony at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion. Lure joins fellow thoroughbreds Housebuster, Invasor, McDynamo and Tuscalee; jockey Calvin Borel, and August Belmont II and Paul Mellon in the Class of 2013.

Lure won three Grade 1 races and nine graded stakes in his career, including the Grade 3 Daryl's Joy in 1993 and Grade 2 Bernard Baruch in 1994 at Saratoga. A track record holder at five furlongs and one mile, he won the Breeders' Cup Mile in 1992 and 1993 and retired with 14 victories and more than $2.5 million in earnings from 25 starts.

"He was a very, very, very talented and fast horse," McGaughey said. "We had him on the dirt and I brought him up here as a 3-year-old and started training him on the turf here, and every day he just got better and better and better.

"I think he's a very deserving member of the Hall of Fame. I was disappointed a couple times when he didn't make it, but I was very excited now that he is going to be inducted. I'm going to be there, and I'm going to be excited for Lure."



PHOTO/Adam Coglianese

Lukas didn't bankrupt his top owners, they both died - Gene Klein and William T. Young.

Pletcher happy with following works

When Saratoga's main track opened Sunday morning following the renovation break at 8:50 a.m. (EDT), three-year-old stars Palace Malice and Verrazano were the first horses bounding through the gap, eager to put in their penultimate works for the Grade 1, $1 million Travers Stakes on August 24.
With exercise rider Jake Nelson aboard, Palace Malice breezed four furlongs in :49.02, the 38th fastest of 111 works at the distance. Verrazano, with Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez up, worked the same distance in :49.05, in company with Secretariat Stakes-bound turf runner Jack Milton.

"I thought we had a very good morning; everything went just as we had hoped," trainer Todd Pletcher said. "We've certainly never come into the Travers with two horses with credentials this strong and doing as well as these two horses are. We'll just cross our fingers for 13 more days and hope everything continues to go as well as it is."

Palace Malice is seeking to become the only horse besides Arts and Letters in 1969 to win the Belmont Stakes, the Jim Dandy and the Travers. Arts and Letters was named Horse of the Year that year. To accomplish the feat, Palace Malice will have to defeat his stablemate, Verrazano, who is coming off a scintillating 9 3/4-length victory in the Haskell Invitational on July 28 at Monmouth Park.

Pletcher recognizes putting the two together is not ideal, but both are in contention for end of the year honors.


"You hate to run two horses like this against each other, but it's the right thing for each horse and each owner, so that's what we're going to do," Pletcher said. "Both horses are certainly in position where a win here would solidify their status at the top of the division. What better place to decide it than on the racetrack in the Travers?"

Pletcher also worked Princess of Sylmar, the Kentucky Oaks and Coaching Club American Oaks winner, who is seeking to add the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama to her resume on Saturday.

Princess of Sylmar breezed four furlongs in :49 2/5, 56th fastest of 111 works at the distance.

The daughter of Majestic Warrior won the Kentucky Oaks at odds of 38-1 and was less highly thought of than her stablemates Dreaming of Julia and Unlimited Budget, who she vanquished that day.

Pletcher believes any doubts about her talent have been eliminated.

"I think it changed in the (Coaching Club American) Oaks (on July 20 at the Spa)," Pletcher said. "She put any questions about her Kentucky Oaks victory to rest in there with a very strong performance. She's trained brilliantly since then. We hope she can repeat that type of effort in the Alabama. For a filly that has only lost one time since her debut, and coming off a win in the Kentucky Oaks and the Coaching Club, she's established herself as the division leader."

Trainer Ken McPeek's "War Horses" -- Java's War and War Dancer -- breezed over the Oklahoma training track on Sunday, with both colts under consideration for the Travers.

Java's War, winner of the Blue Grass in April, breezed three furlongs in :37 and will make his next start in either the Stroll overnight stakes at 1 3/16 miles on the turf on Wednesday or in the Travers. McPeek said the decision will be made by owner Charles Fipke, who also campaigns Travers contender Golden Soul, trained by Dallas Stewart.

"It was just to let him stretch his legs," McPeek said. "He went fantastic. We're going to make a decision on whether he runs on Wednesday. I have to speak to Mr. Fipke about that detail. We may still very well run in the Travers. He worked well today, and I'm happy with that."

Virginia Derby winner War Dancer breezed five furlongs in 1:03 1/5 in company with stablemate So Raise Yourglass.

"It was just a nice maintenance five-eighths," McPeek, said. "The riders went off a little slow the first three-eighths, but they finished up and galloped out nicely."

Since the Travers may have Javas War, I'm wondering if a certain horse has another stellar workout if McPeek will have an entry of 3? LMAO

Travers-bound Transparent breezes half-mile

Transparent, who will carry the Godolphin Racing silks in the 144th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Travers, had his final serious move for next Saturday's "Mid-Summer Derby" Friday morning, breezing four furlongs in :49 4/5 on Saratoga's fast main track.

"He worked well," trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said of Transparent, who finished first but was disqualified to fifth in the Curlin on July 26, his first race since April 4. "Being that he had 112 days off before his last race, we're happy to get a couple of works into him. It was a true prep, the Curlin. We're happy with his work. We're heading to the Travers."

McLaughlin, who trained dead-heat winner Alpha in last year's Travers, has saddled Transparent to two victories in four starts this year, including a maiden win on January 26 at Aqueduct Racetrack and the 10 3/4-length win over older horses in April, both for Darley Stable.

One minor issue after another kept Transparent out of the races, but McLaughlin is pleased with how well the colt has been doing since crossing the finish line two lengths ahead of Romansh in the Curlin.

"He's been great," McLaughlin said. "He hasn't missed a day, that's what's nice. He had a lot of gaps in his works before he ran, so now that we've gotten a race and two works, we're happy. We're not happy with the competition, but we're happy with him."

Brisnet

Palace Malice, Verrazano put finishing touches on Travers preparations

Trainer Todd Pletcher's dynamic duo of Palace Malice and Verrazano took to Saratoga's fast main track right after the renovation break Sunday morning for their final serious works leading up to Saturday's 144th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Travers.

An eager Palace Malice went first under exercise rider Jake Nelson, breezing through a half-mile in :48.21, the 17th fastest of 70 at the distance. A few moments later, Verrazano, with Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez in the irons and working in company, went a half-mile in :48.65, ranking 25th of 70 at the distance.

Pletcher said he was very pleased with the way both Palace Malice, winner of the Belmont Stakes in June and the Jim Dandy on July 27 at Saratoga, and Verrazano, triumphant in the Haskell on July 28 at Monmouth Park, look six days out from the 1 1/4-mile "Mid-Summer Derby."

"Palace Malice is feeling good," Pletcher said of the Dogwood Stable colorbearer. "He's feeling great, actually, so we were happy to get him on the track. He seems to be thriving. The more he does, the better he gets.

"With both horses, it's rare that you go through these Triple Crown prep series, run in the Derby -- and in Palace Malice's case, the Belmont -- and seem to get bigger and stronger and better as you're doing it. I think the key to the really good ones is they're able to withstand those types of campaigns and flourish while doing it."

Verrazano, owned by the partnership of Let's Go Stable, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, worked in company with Capo Bastone, who is unraced since a seventh-place finish in the Woody Stephens on June 8 at Belmont Park.

"Verrazano always goes in company," Pletcher said. "He's a little different personality than the other horse. I thought he went very well. His gallop-out was very good. We kind of flip-flopped their gallop-outs from last week. Palace Malice last week was a little bit stronger, so we wanted to do a little more on the day with Verrazano. We got what we were looking for."

The Travers will be the colts' second race at 1 1/4 miles. While Palace Malice faded to 12th after a setting a torrid pace in the Kentucky Derby, he went on to prove victorious in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes. Following his 14th-place finish in the Derby, Verrazano went on to win the Pegasus at 1 1/16 miles and the 1 1/8-mile Haskell.

"With the way the racetrack came up that day in the Haskell, I think any horse that could handle a mile and an eighth and finish up as strongly as he did that day can handle a mile and a quarter at Saratoga," Pletcher said of Verrazano. "That was a very deep, demanding track that day. I think a mile and a quarter shouldn't be an issue."

Pletcher noted that Verrazano, a son of More Than Ready, and Palace Malice, by Curlin, have similar pace-pressing running styles.

"Hopefully, (that won't create complications)," said Pletcher. "It will come down to post positions and Johnny (Velazquez) and Mike (Smith) are going to have to make decisions on where they want to be. Hopefully, they don't get in each other's way, but each of them will have to run their own race to try and win. We'll talk about strategies for each individual horse, and those guys will have to sort it out."

Brisnet