ELMONT, N.Y. – Better later than never, the multiple graded stakes winner Sara Louise is poised to make her 4-year-old debut in Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap at Belmont Park.
Referred to for most of her 3-year-old season as the last horse to beat Rachel Alexandra – she did so in the Pocahontas at 2 at Churchill Downs – Sara Louise has not run since winning the Grade 2 Top Flight Handicap at Aqueduct on Nov. 27.
Unlike most of her Godolphin-owned counterparts, Sara Louise did not winter in Dubai, rather in Kentucky. She joined Godolphin’s Belmont stable in the spring, and was gearing up for a start in the Honorable Miss at Saratoga in early August when she suffered a significant bruise to her left front foot, according to Godolphin assistant trainer Rick Mettee.
Sara Louise was off the work tab for five weeks and when she returned, she began breezing over the synthetic surface at the Godolphin training center in Saratoga, the former Greentree property.
“This would probably be the first time we did all our major prep work over the synthetic surface, so it’s a bit of a gray area,’’ Mettee said. ``She’s worked well over the track.’’
Sara Louise was scheduled to have her final breeze for the Gallant Bloom on Tuesday over Belmont’s main track.
Mettee said that how Sara Louise performs on Saturday would be a major factor in what to do with her the remainder of the year. A win would most likely put her in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint – the Gallant Bloom is a `Win and You’re In race – at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5.
“She’s auditioning for the Breeders’ Cup,” Mettee said. “A lot depends on the Gallant Bloom, how she does, how she comes out of it.”
Sara Louise will be the starting high weight at 119 pounds. She will be spotting three to four pounds to the rest of the field, which is expected to include First Passage (116), Pretty Prolific (116), Moontune Missy (115), My Jen (115), Qualia (115), Rapport (115), and War Kill (114).
Girolamo to Vosburgh
Mettee confirmed that Girolamo would make his next start in the Grade 1 Vosburgh on Oct. 2.
Girolamo came off a 10-month layoff in the Grade 1 Forego, where he finished fifth, beaten just 4 1/2 lengths by Here Comes Ben.
On Sunday, Girolamo breezed four furlongs in 47.36 seconds over the Belmont main track in his first work back since that race.
“Shortening up to six furlongs should be good for him,” Mettee said.
Mettee said Regal Ransom, who worked four furlongs in 47.12 seconds on Sunday, is on target for the Kelso on Oct. 3. Regal Ransom could earn a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile with a good performance in that race. Godolphin is already pointing Gayego to that race.
Mettee said plans for Vineyard Haven are unclear though he would not run in the Vosburgh, a race to which he received an invitation.
Rachel Alexandra works; no confirmed plans
Reigning Horse of the Year Rachel Alexanda breezed six furlongs in 1:12.05 Monday morning over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga, but her connections have yet to confirm whether she will run in the Grade 1, $350,000 Beldame Invitational at Belmont on Oct. 2.
In her second breeze since finishing second to Persistently in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Aug. 29, Rachel Alexandra was timed by Saratoga clockers in 36.20 seconds for her first three-eighths, 48.00 seconds for the half-mile, and she galloped out seven furlongs in 1:25.40.
John Moynihan, the bloodstock agent for owner Jess Jackson’s Stonestreet Stables, said Monday he expected trainer Steve Asmussen to speak with Jackson this week about plans for Rachel Alexandra.
“It’s completely up to Mr. Jackson,” Moynihan said. “I’m sure Steve will talk to Mr. Jackson and come up with a game plan. As of right now, I don’t know what that game plan is.”
Rachel Alexandra was also invited to the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup, a 1 1/4-mile race that is expected to attract top older male Blame.
Whatsthescript achieves rare feat
Whatsthescript, a Grade 2 stakes winner who spent the first part of this year as a stallion in Southern California, returned to the winner’s circle Sunday, taking the $60,000 Keep the Promise Stakes by a neck over Wesley.
It was the first win for Whatsthescript since he took the Grade 2 Eddie Read at Del Mar in August 2008. It was his first win since owners Tom and Debi Stull shipped him east to New York-based trainer Gary Contessa.
Contessa said it has been experience that horses who are retired to be stallions rarely if ever make a successful comeback on the track. Whatsthescript did finish third to Goldikova in the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Mile.
“To get a horse of this caliber who bred 38 mares and to have him come back and win a stake race – regardless of how obscure the stake race is – is very, very fulfilling,” Contessa said.
Contessa said that he would like to keep Whatsthescript facing soft company before perhaps attempting a run at tougher competition next year.
“I’d like to treat him like Burgess Meredith treated Rocky Balboa in Rocky II and III,” Contessa said. “I’d like to see him beat up on easier opponents and stay away from graded stakes for now.”
Contessa reported that his graded stakes-winning sprinter Eightyfiveinafifty is back in training at Aqueduct after recovering from a bout with pneumonia.
Buddy’s Saint back with Levine
Buddy’s Saint, among the leaders of the 2009 2-year-old division who was bumped off this year’s Triple Crown trail due to an ankle chip, arrived back at Bruce Levine’s Belmont Park barn Monday morning.
Following surgery in March to remove an ankle chip, Buddy’s Saint had spent the majority of the last six months at Jimmy Crupi’s New Castle Farm in Ocala, Fla. Since Aug. 28, Buddy’s Saint has had four workouts at three furlongs, including a move in 38.80 seconds last Friday.
Levine said Buddy’s Saint would likely work a half-mile this weekend at Belmont and he hopes to find a race for him sometime during the Aqueduct meeting.
“He’s sound as a dollar,” Levine said. “Couldn’t ask for anything more. We took a chip out, we gave him the time. At one time, I was thinking of trying to find a race and then the Cigar Mile, but I probably won’t do that. I don’t want to squeeze him.”
At 2, Buddy’s Saint won the Nashua as a maiden – after being disqualified from first in a maiden race – and then took the Remsen. In his only start at 3, he finished ninth in the Fountain of Youth after getting bounced around at the start of the race.
