The first horse on the main track at Saratoga Race Course at 5:30 a.m. ET July 29 was Pretty Mischievous, the leader of the 3-year-old filly division.
With jockey Tyler Gaffalione aboard, Pretty Mischievous had her final work before the $500,000 Test Stakes (G1) Aug. 5 at the Spa. Pretty Mischievous went four furlongs in :49.70 in her third work since arriving at Saratoga from Kentucky for trainer Brendan Walsh.
"She felt great," said Gaffalione, who has ridden the daughter of Into Mischief in six of her eight starts. "It was a nice maintenance work. We let her have a good finish down the lane and into the gallop out. She handled everything fine. She just has so much class; she loves her job.
"The last few works she has started to wake up again," he said. "The last two works she has really sparked up and shown a lot more energy and I think we are ready to fire."
Godolphin's Pretty Mischievous has won three of four starts this year, the Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) at Fair Grounds Course & Slots Feb. 18, the Kentucky Oaks (G1) May 5 at Churchill Downs and the Acorn Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park June 9.
In the Test, Pretty Mischievous will be cutting back to seven furlongs, a distance she has run once, winning her second career start on a sloppy track at Churchill Oct. 30, 2022.
Three of her four races this year have been at 1 1/16 miles; the third, the Kentucky Oaks, was 1 1/8 miles.
"She has shown us plenty of speed," Walsh said outside his barn on the Oklahoma Training Track. "I know she is going to be fast enough. We don't have to go out and blow the doors off them in the morning with a filly like her."
Mage's First Saratoga Work Getting Closer
The first Saratoga work for Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mage is almost here.
Trainer Gustavo Delgado said the son of Good Magic will begin training on the main track July 31 and the first work could be Aug. 4.
Since arriving in the Spa City on July 24 following a runner-up performance in the Haskell Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park July 22, Mage has been training on the Oklahoma Training Track, right next door to Delgado's barn. He and exercise rider J. J. Delgado (no relation) were out July 29 galloping on the Oklahoma just before 8 a.m. ET
Mage has been going to the track at 7:30 a.m. but Delgado said that could change when the popular chestnut moves across the street.
"He is very happy," Delgado said of his barn star. "He loves being in Saratoga. Me, too."
Mage will have three works at the Spa before running in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes (G1) on Aug 26. Delgado said he is not going to fret about who will be riding the colt in the Midsummer Derby.
Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano has to make the decision as he is the regular rider of Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Arcangelo as well as Mage.
"It's possible that Ramiro will ride," Delgado said with a smile.
That would be co-owner Ramiro Restrepo, who was standing next to his trainer.
Delgado then answered with sincerity, explaining he was not going to worry about thing he can not control.
"This race (Travers), all the best riders are at Saratoga," Delgado said "The field for the Travers may be short."
Maiden Winner Faraday Another Success Story for Dynaire
Trainer Chad Brown knew Faraday had the pedigree to be a highly useful long distance turf runner.
It was just a matter of getting the son of Ghostzapper to focus.
So, a decision to geld him was made. Then blinkers were added.
All of a sudden, Faraday was living up to a sterling turf pedigree and closing quickly in the stretch to take the July 28 sixth race, a 1 3/8-mile maiden special weight race on turf, in just his second start and first since Oct. 23.
After finishing sixth last year in his debut, the 3-year-old owned by William Lawrence and breeder Woodslane Farm was ninth of 10 early in Friday's race and still fifth at the eighth pole before closing stoutly under Castellano to get up by a neck in 2:15.06 for the 11 furlongs.
"He was a bit immature last year. He wasn't focused, so we had to geld him, take our time with him. Put blinkers on him," Brown said. "We tinkered with him and he really started training well the last three times. My staff at Monmouth did a great job with him."
Once focused, Faraday's breeding came to the fore as he added to the outstanding resume of his dam, the Dynaformer mare Dynaire. A half-brother to Woodslane and trainer Tom Albertrani's grade 1 winner and $2.6 million earner Sadler's Joy, a 2013 son of Kitten's Joy who won the 1 1/2-mile Sword Dancer Stakes (G1T) and was a fixture in top-level distance turf stakes, he became the seventh winner from 11 foals out of his dam.
"Looking at his pedigree, he was born to run a mile and three-eighths. He has a bright future ahead of him. He's only run twice and to finish like he did at the distance off a layoff was promising," said Brown, who intends to find an allowance race for the 3-year-old's next start.
Faraday, who was purchased for $275,000 by Meridian from the Hidden Brook consignment at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, is a full brother to the stakes winner Wolfie's Dynaghost and a half brother to the stakes-placed Lunaire(Malibu Moon) and Dyna Passer (Lemon Drop Kid).
Aside from the four black-type offspring, Dynaire has a 2-year-old full brother to Sadler's Joy who was bought by agent Joe Migliore for $250,000 at Keeneland September, a yearling full brother to Faraday, and a 2023 Munnings colt.
Lukas' Seize the Grey Upsets Mage's Full Brother
The seventh race at Saratoga Race Course on the July 29 card was billed as the coming out party for the full brother to Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mage , a 2-year-old colt named Dornoch .
Instead, the juvenile sprint became another in a long list of maiden races at the Spa with Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas in the spotlight as the sport's living legend sent out MyRaceHorse's Seize the Grey to take the $105,000 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds by 1 1/4 lengths over a game Dornoch in a result that was highly popular with a segment of the crowd.
Even on wet day at the Spa, about 60 MyRaceHorse microshare owners jammed into the winner's circle for a scene that, as Lukas explained, "is going to make a lot of photographers happy with the pictures they sell to the 1,000 owners."
Gamblers were caught a bit off guard as the son of Arrogate was sent off at 16-1 odds in cruising over a sloppy and sealed track in 1:17.95 with jockey Jaime Torres aboard.
Bred by Jamm LTD in Kentucky, the son of the Smart Strike mare Smart Shopping was eighth in his July 1 debut at Ellis Park.
"I thought he might run better the second time. He was a little green and he didn't like the pressure. I worked him on an off-track and maybe that helped. He looked very professional through the whole thing and that's encouraging," Lukas said.
Seize the Grey ($34.80) is the third of four foals from Smart Shopping and is a half brother to the stakes-placed Shoppingforpharoah. He was bought for $300,000 from the Mill Ridge Sales consignment at The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's New York Sale of Select Yearlings. Smart Shopping has also produced a yearling Justify filly.
As for Dornoch, the 5-2 second choice, trainer Danny Gargan was pleased with the son of Good Magic 's effort on a wet track that he probably did not relish. The $325,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale buy owned by West Paces Racing, Randy Hill, Belmar Racing and Breeding, and Two Eights Racing was bumped at the start and broke slowly, then rushed up along the inside to be third after the opening quarter-mile.
"He was a little green along the inside. (Jockey Luis Saez) said he had a ton of a horse but he took the worst of it on the inside. We're really pleased with him. First-time starters don't have to win at Saratoga. I just wanted to get a race in him so he can go longer next time and show his natural talent. He's not a sprinter."
Gargan said he's hopeful of finding a mile race for the son of the Big Brown mare Puca before the meet ends.
Lukas, on the other hand, could target a stakes like the closing day Sept. 4 Hopeful Stakes (G1) for Seize the Grey.
"You're in a tough spot when you win a maiden race here because there are no allowance races for 2-year-olds," said Lukas, an eight-time winner of the Hopeful. "So, you either run in a stakes or ship him out. We'll talk with the thousand people involved with the horse and go from there."
