After watching Fairbanks lose the Mass 'Cap at 3-to-5 and Octave lose the Cotillion at 3-to-10, Todd Pletcher had to be relieved when Any Given Saturday won the Brooklyn at 3-to-20. But Any Given Saturday is going to have to run a lot better five weeks from now than he did in the Brooklyn to have any impact on the Breeders' Cup Classic.
Granted, Any Given Saturday's 2 1/2-length victory over Tasteyville in a weak renewal of the Brooklyn was merely a maintenance race, a bridge between the Haskell seven weeks ago and the Classic five weeks hence. But the race was significantly slower than his romp over the same track in the Dwyer off a similar layoff, and was visually unimpressive. In the Dwyer, Any Given Saturday beat Nobiz Like Shobiz by four widening lengths with a mile and a sixteenth in 1:40.69, good for a Beyer of 110. In the Brooklyn, he needed 1:48.31 for nine furlongs around one turn, which translated to a Beyer of 103. Tasteyville, who had been off the board in his only two previous stakes tries, had just three-quarters of a length at the finish on Helsinki, who was coming off a 10 3/4-length defeat at 49-1 in the Travers.
Even with the victory by Any Given Saturday, who attracted over $1.2 million in show bets, nobody picked six at Belmont Saturday, so there's a two-day, $223k carryover into Sunday. The bad news: While Friday's and Saturday's pick-sixes went unhit largely because of implausible results in the lone turf sprint in both sequences, Sunday's pick-six embraces not one, not two, but three six-furlong races on the turf. Good luck.
Other notes on an overcast Brooklyn card:
*Race 1: In the first steeplechase race at the meet, the inaugural running of the "Grade 1" Lonesome Glory, second choice Good Night Shirt won in his first start since taking the Iroquois in May while favored Mixed Up, also the beaten favorite in the NY Turf Writers last month, was a dull fifth. Good Night Shirt, who stumbled over the first and last fences, will try to wrap up an Eclipse Award in the Breeders' Cup Steeplechase at Far Hills, N.J. Oct. 20.
*Race 2: Darley firster Smoke'n Coal won his debut by three lengths in 1:04.64, good for an 84 Beyer. The Smoke Glacken-Cherrokeefrolicflash colt feched $550k at a February 2-year-old sale.
*Race 3: Les Grands Trois, sidelined since running third at 3-5 in the Bay Shore April 7, made a strong and successful return in this N2x sprint, nailing Silver Source by a neck in 1:09.82 and earning a 102 Beyer. Les Grands Trois, an Officer colt trained by Bobby Frankel, won his debut last summer at Belmont by 9, then was off eight months before winning at Santa Anita and then suffering his lone defeat in the Bay Shore.
*Race 6: The pick six kicked off with this 2-year-old statebred maiden race, and West Point firster Pygmalion probably sunk a lot of tickets. The Freud colt opened at 3-5, drifted only as high as 9-10, but tired badly after chasing quick fractions. Scott Schwartz firster Be Bullish bulled his way past the favorite in upper stretch and then ran down Rule Seventy Six to win by a length. The stewards looked at the completely inconsequential bump between Bullish Luck and Pygmalion for almost 10 minutes before properly leaving the result alone.
*Race 7: Today's turf-sprint lottery winner was Dontess ($47.00), a 1-for-22 chronic stopper on the dirt who sailed to a two-length victory in 1:09.80 in his grass debut. Next.
*Race 9: The G2 Gallant Bloom for older filly sprinters was as puzzling a five-horse race as you'll ever see, with a toteboard to reflect it: there were three 5-2 shots, a 3-1 and a 5-1. The likely complexion of the race changed at the start when Princess Janie stumbled badly, leaving Great Intentions alone on the lead and Pussycat Doll, usually a one-run closer, chasing her in second. Great Intentions, who hadn't been out since the Barbara Fritchie Feb. 17, began to tire in upper stretch and Pussycat Doll, a ghost of her former G1 self, had nothing left. So along came Jazzy, the Argentine-bred and South African-raced daughter of Mutakddim who was making her dirt debut in her 10th career start. Jazzy, a Team Valor purchase trained by Mark Hennig, held off favored Cuaba by three-quarters of a length and stopped the timer in 1:16.71 for 6 1/2 furlongs, which earned her a 96 Beyer.
*Race 10: Any Given Saturday hit the gate at the start, and Tasteyville came over on him slightly before sprinting clear to a six-length lead in 46.12 and 1:10.24. Any Given Saturday, racing alone on the rail in second, moved out on the turn and eventually reeled in the leader, getting half a length in front after a mile in 1:35.30 and then running his final furlong in 13.01. Helsinki cut his deficit from 6 at the furlong pole to 3 1/4 at the wire. Awesome Twist flattened out to be fourth and Sightseeing trailed in a dull effort.
*Race 11: There was one live pick-six ticket going into the finale (not mine, I think I was alive for 3-of-6) and only to Logic Way for what would have been a $223,832 payoff. Alas for whoever made it that far, which was no small feat, Logic Way struggled home fourth behind Hammock, who made an excellent grass debut stepping up off a Saratoga maiden victory. Hammock disposed of second choice Striking Rizzi through fast fractions and still drew away by 3 3/4 lengths in 1:35.75 as if he may have a future in the statebred grass ranks.
Better make some strong coffee if you're going to attack that double carryover tomorrow. The three turf sprints in the sequence are an 11-horse conditioned claimer, a 12-horse maiden claimer, and a 16-horse statebred filly maiden race. Sadly, the overnight forecast calls for sunny skies tomorrow and a 0 percent chance of precipitation that might have washed the races onto the main track.
