Rodolphe Brisset’s 2019 Saratoga string takes up nearly a full shedrow in Barn 71 on the Oklahoma Training Track. The French-born trainer went out on his own in 2017 and had a few stalls in Saratoga for the first time last summer. He started seven, placed with three and was fourth in the Grade 1 Alabama with Talk Veuve To Me. He and wife Brooke share the riding duties for the 15 horses. Brisset will manage his Saratoga string as well as taking trips to his main base in Kentucky at Keeneland and Churchill Downs. (Originally published in July 18 issue of The Saratoga Special)
“It’s been a very good year, maybe a little more ups and downs than before. We’ve had the disqualification with Veuve in an allowance and she entrapped in the race after that,” Brisset said of Talk Veuve To Me, disqualified for a medication violation April 11 at Keeneland. “You can expect ups and downs but Positive Spirit rolling over in the (Kentucky) Oaks, we weren’t planning on that. What happened with My Majestic Rose, you never expect it.”
My Majestic Rose won the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks in late May at Santa Anita Park and suffered a fatal injury in her first work back at Keeneland after the race.
Brisset, a former assistant to Hall of Famer Bill Mott, continues to look forward.
“I realized with Saratoga last year, you may not win a race the first couple of years, but you have to do it,” he said. “Last year it was great. I know we didn’t win a race, but we had a couple of runners and they run second, third, fourth. It’s not easy to be in three different places, but I’ve got the right people. I’ve got a very solid base, we’ve been building to get to that point. I’ve got Dave (Lively) in Keeneland, we’ve worked together for a long time. Leigh Bentley has been working with us for 2 1/2 years and she’s in Churchill. Then me and Lesley (Howes) here. We’re going to be in Belmont September, October and November.”
Brisset, who picked up his first Saratoga win Wednesday, walked the shedrow Sunday morning with The Special’s Ben Gowans.
Talk Veuve To Me: Last year’s Indiana Oaks winner has had a rough 2019. The daughter of Violence was recently disqualified from a win in her first start of the year. She then finished last in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff and had surgery for an entrapped epiglottis. Brisset co-owns the filly with Team Valor International and Stephen McKay. “She actually has responded really well to it. She walked for 12 days and jogged for 3 days and two weeks later we were back at it. We gave her time to really get over it and she’s been breezing every seven days since . . . I guess forget the first six months of the year. We’ll be able to make plans after (her third in Wednesday’s ninth race). She’s still the same personality, pretty easy to be around. It’s just a shame the first six months of the year didn’t turn out the way we were hoping. Hopefully we can pick it up in the next six months.”
The Black Album: A Group 3 winner in France last year, Team Valor and Gary Barber’s colt got his first North American stakes win last time in the Charlie Barley at Woodbine. The son of Wootton Bassett displays what has to be in the top 1 percent of best equine hair and mane in Saratoga as Brisset stands in front of his stall. “I may have tried to make him what he doesn’t want to be. Two-turns, over a mile, I don’t think that’s what he wants to do. That race in Woodbine ended up being the perfect spot. Being a mile, one-turn there, we got the blinkers, we got Flavien (Prat). We’re going to stick to one-turn and the goal will be to work back from the 6 1/2-furlong race at Kentucky Downs for 3-year-olds. That should fit him pretty good. We need to sharpen him up a little bit for that so what I’m looking at is the (Mahony Stakes) here, first week of August going 5 1/2. He’s got a great personality.”
Quip: Last year’s Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby winner returned stronger this season. He won the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap in April and most recently finished second in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster at Churchill. The son of Distorted Humor is owned by WinStar Farm, China Horse Club and SF Racing. “It’s a 50-50 right now with the Whitney and the Pacific Classic. We’re just going to play it by ear. Of course, the Whitney, he’s here, but we already have a spot in the plane to go to Del Mar if we need to. He worked very good (5 furlongs in 1:02.49 July 13). He’s already had a pretty good year but it would mean everything to us to win our first Grade 1 with him. He’s been very good to us. We learned a lot last year. We kind of rushed him to try and get him for the Derby. This year, we gave him time between races and it’s been paying off. Three days before the Whitney we’re going to have to decide if we make the phone call or wait.”
Bluegrass Parkway: Mike Ryan’s Quality Road 3-year-old colt has never been worse than fourth in seven starts. “This horse has been very unlucky and he’s been facing some tough company. We broke his maiden at Keeneland and came back in December at Gulfstream and he was third behind A Thread Of Blue and English Bee, who both have come back and won stakes. He got a little unlucky that day, he had to check a couple of times. I’m not saying he would have won but we really think he could win a stakes down the road. Mike’s been a big supporter. Him and his clients.”
Velvet Crush: Tapit filly sold for $450,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale. The chestnut with a blaze is out of two-time stakes winner White Clover. “She’s owned by some new young people in the business. They are clients of Mike Ryan. We really like her. She’s been showing some talent. We are four or five weeks away, maybe a little less. I would love to look at something like first part of August. She’s been pretty quick from the gate. I know she’s Tapit and the mare was two turns, but I’m a big believer in sprinting first-time out. There’s nothing wrong with getting beat first-time out. From there, you develop the horse.”
Off The Record: WinStar Farm’s homebred 3-year-old by Distorted Humor won by 2 lengths in his debut Wednesday. “He’s been a pretty fun horse to be around. Obviously, everybody has seen the workouts so I’m sure everybody has heard about him. He’s been on a weekly program and he will catch your eyes galloping around the track. I’m pretty sure he’ll catch your eye in the paddock, too. Now, we are 4 percent first-time out, so the main thing is he shows something and we’ll go from there. But he’s a horse we like.”
Violencia: Filly owned by Kent Donworth, Rick Howard and Rags Racing Stable looked destined for stardom after a 7 1/2-length debut win at Gulfstream Park in February. “She had her first breeze back (July 14). She ran a pretty big one first out. Maybe too fast for her own good. Nothing was really major but we got a couple breezes back after the race and just didn’t like the way she came out of them. We decided to just give her 60 days. She came back to us in great shape so we’ll see. Obviously, we are mid-July, she just had her first work so don’t think we’ll be ready for Saratoga but hopefully if things go good we’ll be looking at Belmont in September. She’s a very talented filly, very laid back, a pleasure to be around.”
Slam Dunk: Ryan bought the daughter of Into Mischief for $450,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale. The big bay filly doesn’t lack in the size or stretch department. “We brought her here because we’re pretty high on her. She had her first work from the gate (July 13), it was pretty good. If everything goes right with her, we’re two or three weeks away. She’s been working pretty fast in Keeneland, working with older horses which is always a good sign. A lot of people are pretty high on her, people who saw her train at Stonestreet. We’ll see where she’s going to take us. She’s talented, physically she’s good looking, but mentally she needs to grow up a little bit. Maybe a race will help her to grow up.”
La Chancla: Three-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo, who cost $775,000 last March, peers her over the webbing for a pat. Brisset obliges. LNJ Foxwoods owns the July 7 second-out maiden winner, whose name means “The Flipflop” in Spanish. “I guess everybody knows I like this one, huh? This a pretty nice filly. She’s come out of the race very well. It was our third runner for (LNJ Foxwoods), first winner, and they were there so that’s always fun when those things end up working out. She was pretty impressive. Just the fact she went and picked up that horse on the lead. The gallop-out was pretty nice, too. There’s a lot of speed in her family but it looks like the way she’s been running so far she may want some more ground. If we can look at the one-other-than here going 7 furlongs then we’ll see where she takes us. We’re hoping she’s stakes quality. I’ve gotten very attached to her. She’s not easy in the morning. She was pretty difficult in Payson (Park), but the more we got her in a routine, the better she got. I don’t know, she could be anything.”
New Day Dawning: WinStar’s homebred 2-year-old filly has been with Brisset for just two weeks. “Extremely well bred, by Medaglia d’Oro and out of Ready To Act, the filly who jumped the rail with Rajiv (Maragh) for Chad Brown in the (2013) Natalma. He gave her one too much and she (hand motion to insinuate veering in over the rail that only a racetracker could do). She’ll be more for September, Belmont or Churchill. A great physical, very well-bred, so you can only go on from that.”
Comic: LNJ Foxwoods’ unraced homebred 3-year-old by Distorted Humor breezed a half-mile out of the gate in :49.43 on the Oklahoma July 13. “It was a nice work, she did it pretty easy. It looks like she could be a nice horse. We’re still learning about her, she’s been with us six or seven weeks, we’ve had five workouts. I would say she’s three or four weeks away. Pretty cool filly, she will catch your eyes on the track too. She’s very stalky, Distorted Humor does that. Between the three we have, Quip, Off The Record, and her, there’s a lot of similarities. Nice shoulder, kind eyes, the same head.”
Catherineofaragon: Ryan’s 2-year-old Bodemeister filly is out of Grade 3 winner La Reina. “This filly got to us a little bit on the small side, she was a little nervous but the past couple of weeks she has really turned the corner. We brought her here without really knowing what we were going to do. The fact she can work on the turf here, she looks pretty turfy to us. She could end up running next month mile-and-a-sixteenth on turf, one of those maidens to give her experience and go from there. She’s been doing great since she’s been here, she’s bred to go long.”
Sassy Little Lila: Owned by Jeff Drown and Ryan, 6-year-old Artie Schiller mare placed twice in Grade 1s and is 3-for-18 with $464,370. “Her first start this year was a good effort, she was fourth. The second race they put some pressure on her and went too fast, she got tired. Her pedigree, if you look at the bottom side, it wants to go a mile-and-a-half, wants to go all day. The topside is Artie Schiller who I don’t think he wanted to go a-mile-and-one-yard. We’re going to try and go long with her to see if it’s a new thing she could do. At some point you have to shake the tree and do something new because what we’ve been doing is not working. She’s not running terrible but we’re not bringing her up.”
Art Buff: Joseph Anzalone’s Magic Cap Stable acquired the daughter of Bodemeister for $90,000 through Ryan at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. “She broke her maiden for 30 in Churchill. The owner has a house here and loves Saratoga. We think if we find the right spot she can be competitive here. She’ll run in a non-winner of two lifetime and we’ll go from there. I don’t even know which surface yet because more than likely the dirt race won’t go but I wouldn’t be scared to put her on the grass.”
Positive Spirit: The half-sister to Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming clipped heels and fell leaving the gate in the Kentucky Oaks. Daughter of Pioneerof The Nile is not in Saratoga but Brisset expects her back in the fall. “After what happened, we sent her to WinStar for two weeks. She was doing very good there and she came back to us. She was galloping for a week, I get on her every day, and something was just a tick different. We sent her for an MRI and she ended up with something not very common, and the clinic thinks it may have come from what happened when she rolled. She didn’t have any bone bruising, but she did have a bruise inside the cannon bone. It was a small thing but if we didn’t catch it and kept going it could have been a major issue. She’s at Stonestreet right now so she’ll be probably be back with us in September.”
