Restock, rebuild, reload. Such is the life of a horse trainer and Phil Serpe proves no exception. (Originally published in Aug. 16 issue of The Saratoga Special)
Serpe, winner of four races at last year’s Saratoga meeting and two in 2017, got in the win column when he sent out Chester and Mary Broman’s duo of Out Of Orbit and Held Accountable to a 1-2 finish in the $100,000 Saratoga Dew Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares Aug. 8.
The Bromans are in the midst of downsizing their stable and Weekend Hideaway is off to stud at Irish Hill and Dutchess Views Stallions in nearby Stillwater. Serpe’s remaining string fills out the stalls in his usual barn on the backstretch of the Saratoga main track, an idyllic spot dubbed “Blue Heaven” and marked with a sign bearing that name.
“We could use some more horses,” said Serpe, 1-for-12 at the meet with a second and three thirds through Wednesday. “That’s how things are. The numbers go up and down a little bit. We’re looking to replace some horses.”
Serpe has been active at the claim box at the meet and hopes for more action despite stiff competition.
“I haven’t claimed as much as we used to,” Serpe said. “I’ve always liked doing that. It’s hard in New York. When a horse looks good, everybody’s on it. One ran the other day for $50,000, Carlos Martin’s horse, and Danny Gargan told me there were like 18 claims in on the horse. Eighteen claims for $50,000. That’s a lot of money.”
Serpe sent Crack Of Dawn out to train late Thursday morning, took a seat in one of his director’s chairs next to the fence between his barn and the horse path and talked with The Special’s Tom Law about the Saratoga string.
Dance Till Dawn: WellSpring Stables’ 3-year-old Verrazano filly finished fourth in back-to-back optional claimers here July 14 and Aug. 9. Claimed for $25,000 at Guflstream Park Jan. 20, she’s 4-for-10 with $104,980 in earnings. “She won three in a row this year after we claimed her and she seems like a pretty nice filly. She’s supposed to run the second-to-last day of the meet so we’ll see how that goes.”
Tiple: Serpe claimed Irish-bred daughter of Requinto for $30,000 out of winning effort here going 5 1/2 furlongs on the grass Aug. 1. She’s 2-for-9 with $60,616 in earnings. “We just claimed her off Christophe Clement. She won pretty easily and seems like a nice 3-year-old filly. She had won her start before that. Robert Vukovich, from WellSpring Stable, he’s a breeder and loves getting in deep as far as the pedigree is concerned. He picked her out. She’s an Ireland-bred who was purchased privately by West Point Thoroughbreds. I kept asking Terry Finley for a horse and I finally got one, but I had to claim it off them. She was coming off a maiden win and won pretty easily in a two-lifetime, which they kind of have to do if they’re going to move up and she did. Hopefully she’ll be a nice claim and hopefully run just before the end of the meet.”
Goodbye Brockley: Hilly Fields Stable’s homebred Cosmonaut filly won last year’s Statue of Liberty division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes. She’s a three-time winner but off the board in her three starts in 2019. “I don’t know, we’re working on that. We don’t seem to have it. She’s a little off track right now. We’re trying to get her focus back. She won here last year and was competitive in open allowance races the rest of the year. She looks great, but kind of has us a little puzzled. She’s just not getting it done right now. What we do with horses like that is give them some time, regroup and go back at it this fall with her and get things moving in the right direction.”
Fixed Point: WellSpring’s 4-year-old Midshipman colt finished third in starter allowance going 5 1/2 furlongs on the grass here July 28. He’s won three of 15, including a maiden special weight last summer at Saratoga. “Luis Saez rode him and he does an unbelievably great job riding for us but there was a lot of speed that day. He ended up going :21 and change, he went :43 and 3 or something like that and he tired a little late and finished third. The half-mile was a little too blistering. Stuff happens like that and we’ll get him back up there and hopefully he’ll be able to win a race here like he did last year.”
Foti: WellSpring and Serpe claimed 3-year-old son of Scat Daddy for $65,000 when he finished sixth of seven in 9-furlong turf event here July 21. “We claimed him from Dave Donk in his last start. I love Scat Daddy, so does Bob Vukovich and that’s why we claimed him. We’re working on him, he’s kind of a slender horse, we want to get some weight on him and we’ll get him back to the races. He didn’t run great the day we claimed him but he’s a horse who comes from off the pace a little bit and the speed was holding. He didn’t have much of a shot that day as far as how the race laid out.”
Out Of Orbit: The barn’s winner at the meet, Broman homebred Malibu Moon filly topped stablemate Held Accountable in the $100,000 Saratoga Dew Aug. 8. The winner of four of 21 and $302,478 finished third once and second twice in three Saratoga starts in 2018. “I don’t think she’ll start again until we get down to Belmont. Again, that’s a sad situation. Nobody wants to see no Broman horses. That’s just the decision he made and it’s winding down and it’s sad, we really just got in with the Bromans two, three years ago. We had a great meet for them the year before last, they send you horses and they’re well meant and win races. Everybody is going to miss them.”
Held Accountable: The Bromans’ stakes-winning homebred daughter of Exchange Rate finished second in the Saratoga Dew. She’s won four of 14, including the 2017 Joseph A. Gimma at Belmont Park, and earned $319,389. “One of the last of three horses we have for Mr. and Mrs. Broman. There’s really no race for her or Out Of Orbit back here at the meet so I’m not exactly sure when either one will make their next start. She ran a good race and if it wasn’t for trainer Phil Serpe putting in Out Of Orbit she would have won the race.”
Time Shift: WellSpring Stables’ homebred 2-year-old New York-bred filly by Union Rags finished eighth in her debut here Opening Day. “We like her. She unfortunately drew the rail in her first start and when they broke she got left 100 lengths. She’s going to be running back here before the end. I do like her. We’ll see what happens.”
Bad Dude: The Elkstone Group’s unraced homebred 3-year-old gelding by Eskendereya out of Im A Dixie Girl is a full-brother to multiple Grade 1 winner and $1,668,400-earner Mor Spirit. He’s breezed three times at Saratoga, including 5 furlongs on the Oklahoma grass in 1:02.69 July 28. “He was getting ready to run here, was in a race and came up with a little shin so we might have to take care of his shins before he runs. Looks like right now he’ll run in the fall down at Belmont. He’s a nice, big, good-looking horse. Mor Spirit won like $1.6 million and he ran on the dirt. I was telling Stuart Grant of The Elkstone Group, when we were working him on the dirt his works were barely so-so and we moved him over to the turf he had some good works. He was going 1:02 and change when the dogs were a thousand feet out. We’re looking forward to running him.”
Miss Marcela: WellSpring purchased dead-heat winner of Gulfstream’s Any Limit Stakes privately this spring. Three-year-old daughter of Bodemeister made one start for Serpe, finishing fifth in optional claimer May 24 at Belmont. Entered in Saturday’s second race, a $75,000 claimer going 6 1/2 furlongs on the main track. “She was in a race here and one of those horrific storms came through and she just isn’t much of a mud horse so we scratched her.”
Crack Of Dawn: WellSpring’s homebred 2-year-old filly by Bernardini finished 10th of 10 debut going 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf here July 21. She’s out of the Grade 2-placed Indian Charlie mare Sister Dawn. “She’s like a rocket out of the gate, we ran her first time on the turf, she’s been working great on the turf and she got left. She’s supposed to run back Sunday, we’ll see how that goes.”
