News

You’re not supposed to root and report. Sometimes you can’t help it.

Bobby Frankel walked into the paddock prior to the Grade I Personal Ensign and tried to distance himself from the rest of the overflow crowd. Frankel was content with being left alone. Quiet, reserved, and focused, he watched as champion Ginger Punch was led into her saddling area. And then he got as nervous as a mother who’s lost her child in the supermarket.

Twelve horses, 10 trainers. All staring at one goal – the 139th Travers Stakes.

Remember, trainers began their quest as fans. Teased by the intrigue of a good horse, respectful of what it takes to get a good horse and agonized by the chances of demoralizing a good horse, trainers bear the brunt of taking a shot in the deep and contentious Travers. Fans sit back and watch. Trainers live and die by what happens Saturday afternoon.

“Joe, is this the biggest Saratoga Special in history?”

“Nah, I think it ties it.”

“Oh, let’s go up four more pages, break the record. We can do a four-page Ginger Punch photo spread. Blow it out of the water.”

Ginger Punch, who tries 1 1/4 miles for the first time, is not the only horse in the Personal Ensign – today’s ninth race and the first of four Grade I stakes on the weekend.

Nuno Santos gets to gallop Ginger Punch. Angel Cordero gets to breeze her. Ruben Loza gets to oversee her. Jose Cuevas gets to pretend he’s training her.

It didn’t take long for John Velazquez to handicap Thursday’s Ballston Spa Stakes. Five horses. Two possible pace scenarios. He’d be in front on Wait A While and Kent Desormeaux would stalk aboard Sharp Susan. Or Sharp Susan would be in front and Wait A While would stalk.

Ramon Dominguez hung up on his dad.

These are the good old days.

The Morning Line Kitchen. The Paper Lady. The Fruit Man. The horses walked right down Gridley Avenue. Remember the loose horse that escaped from the stakes barn and ran down Jackson Street? John’s Call manned the Oklahoma side. Funny Cide reigned on the main track side. Grade I-winning ponies tied to trees.

Mike Lecesse was nervous. His undefeated New York-bred Tin Cup Chalice missed a breeze in early August. Then he coughed five times Wednesday morning. Then his jockey Pedro Rodriguez left his red-and-white silks at Finger Lakes.