Trainer Tom Albertrani entered the improving pair of Beau Belle and Lovely Lucky in the Grade 2, $200,000 Glens Falls Stakes, a 1 3/8-miles inner turf marathon for older fillies and mares at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday, September 5.
Saturday's card at Saratoga features four graded events, led by the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward Handicap at 10 furlongs for 3-year-olds and upward; the Grade 2, $150,000 Jim Dandy Stakes at nine furlongs for sophomores; and the Grade 2, $200,000 Prioress, a six-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies.
Race 4 at Saratoga on Saturday, September 5 - Post 1:26 PM
Entry | Horse | ML Odds | Jockey | Trainer |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Civil Union | 3-1 | Joel Rosario 120 Lbs |
Claude McGaughey III |
2 | Beau Belle | 5-1 | Luis Saez 118 Lbs |
Thomas Albertrani |
3 | Lovely Lucky | 8-1 | Jose Lezcano 118 Lbs |
Thomas Albertrani |
4 | My Sister Nat (FR) | 4-5 | Jose Ortiz 122 Lbs |
Chad Brown |
5 | Eliade (FR) | 8-1 | Irad Ortiz, Jr. 120 Lbs |
Chad Brown |
6 | Pallas Athene | 30-1 | Kendrick Carmouche 118 Lbs |
John Terranova II |
7 | Complicit | 15-1 | Dylan Davis 118 Lbs |
Eric Reed |
Beau Belle, a 5-year-old Giant's Causeway mare, is out of the graded-stakes winning Royal Solo mare Binya, who produced Dynaire - the dam of the popular Grade 1-winning Albertrani trainee Sadler's Joy.
Beau Belle graduated in her 15th start last July over a yielding Saratoga turf in a maiden special weight and followed with an allowance score a month later again over yielding turf, both races at 1 3/16-miles.
Albertrani stepped Beau Belle up significantly since that run of form, including a fifth in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational in October at Belmont, a third in the River Memories in July at Belmont and a last-out fourth under Manny Franco in the Grade 3 Waya on August 8 at the Spa, a race won by Glens Falls-rival My Sister Nat.
"She's training forwardly, as she has been, and looks really good going into it," said Albertrani. "I think in her last race she was a little compromised. We had hoped to be on the front end, but Manny decided to take her back as he thought there was going to be more speed outside of him. As it turned out, she got to fighting him and was a little keen behind horses, but she still managed to run on."
Elizabeth Mateo's Lovely Lucky, a 4-year-old Lookin At Lucky bay, has found new life competing on turf. After three off-the-board efforts on dirt at Aqueduct over the winter, Lovely Lucky showed promise with a rallying fourth on turf in May at Gulfstream Park.
A modest $5,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, Lovely Lucky graduated by a nose on June 21 on the Belmont Park turf with a strong rally in a one-turn mile maiden claiming event in which jockey Jose Ortiz lost his crop.
She followed last out with a dominant 6 ¾-length score in a 1 3/8-mile turf allowance on July 24 at the Spa, utilizing a prominent approach under Ortiz.
"She always looked like she might be a turf type horse, but she ran okay in her first two starts at Aqueduct and we opted to try her up there for the winter," said Albertrani. "After the third start at Aqueduct, we decided she just didn't care for the dirt and we shipped her to Florida and she moved up quite a bit first time on the turf."
Albertrani cross-entered Lovely Lucky in Thursday's ninth race at the Spa, a 1 3/16-mile optional-claiming turf event, but said the Glens Falls distance would suit the improving bay.
"She's taken some big steps forward, especially last race stretching her out. I thought it was a very impressive race," said Albertrani. "She's in tomorrow and we'll see if they take it off the turf. Entering here [in the Glens Falls] was insurance. I know it's a tougher group but I think it's a distance she'll relish.
"She ran a big race last time that might put her close to some of these, and you never know what might happen," added Albertrani. "Jose dropped the whip in the $75,000 claimer but she looked much more impressive coming back at a mile and three eighths. She looked like she could have gone another half-mile and not stopped."
Luis Saez has the call on Beau Belle from post 2, while Jose Lezcano would pick up the mount on Lovely Lucky from post 3.
Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown will saddle the Peter Brant-owned French-breds My Sister Nat and Eliade.
My Sister Nat, a 5-year-old Acclamation bay, captured the 2018 Group 3 Prix Bertrand de Tarragon at Longchamp and moved to Brown's barn last year where her best result was a close second, defeated a neck to Si Que Es Buena, in the Grade 3 Long Island in November at 11 furlongs on the Big A turf.
She made her seasonal debut by running second to Mean Mary in the Grade 2 New York in June at Belmont ahead of her rallying effort to defeat Mrs. Sippy by a neck in the Waya.
Eliade, a 4-year-old Teofilo bay, captured the Prix Panacee in October at Toulouse to wrap up her sophomore season. She made her debut for Brown in June at Belmont when sixth and was a closing second last out on August 6 when a neck back of Hungry Kitten in an 11-furlong optional-claiming turf event at the Spa.
My Sister Nat will exit post 4 under Ortiz, while Eliade will be guided from post 5 under Irad Ortiz, Jr.
Rounding out the field are Civil Union [post 1, Joel Rosario], who captured the River Memories last out on July 12 at Belmont for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey; Pallas Athene [post 6, Kendrick Carmouche], a 4-year-old daughter of Declaration of War trained by John Terranova; and Complicit [post 7, Dylan Davis], a 6-year-old Blame bay looking for her first stakes win for trainer Eric Reed.
The Grade 2 Glens Falls is slated as Race 4 on Saturday's 12-race card, which offers a first post of 11:45 a.m. Eastern.
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