Kentucky and Louisiana-based the rest of the year, trainer Al Stall flashed his Saratoga Race Course credentials when 2-year-old filly Strong State won on Opening Day July 11. The barn kept rolling on the next program when Lord I Wonder finished second in her debut and Over And Ollie won a maiden claimer. Three-year-old filly Gavea settled for a battling fourth in the Grade 3 Lake George July 20, but the 10-horse string is batting .500 and looks for more.
Stall, whose past Saratoga success includes winning the 2010 Whitney with Blame and three races
with Grade 1 winner Tom’s d’Etat among others, brought a little smaller group than recent years but will take the fast start to the meet.
“I usually bring 12 to 16 and I’m a little lighter,” he said. “For no reason really, I just wanted to bring two grooms, one rider, two hotwalkers, and it just worked out this way. It’s economics and some
other stuff too. I bring less 2-year-olds than I used to just because it’s so tough up here in the 2-year-old game.
Sunday, he went through the training board – and the horses bedded down in his usual spot between the kitchens and Clare Court on the maintrack side – with The Special’s Joe Clancy.
Lord I Wonder
Bal Mar Equine’s 3-year-old Twirling Candy filly finished second in her debut going 7 furlongs on the dirt here July 12. She was eating out of an unhung hay net while waiting, somewhat impatiently, for a turf breezing time in the first stall next to the office. “She’s a big, nice filly who ran a very good race. She broke slowly from the one hole, and we weren’t surprised by that at all with her size. She has a chance to be a nice horse. She’s out of an Empire Maker mare and you can see it all over her. She had tendonitis as a 2-year-old, had skin issues. It’s strictly maturity, pure maturity. She’s breezing on the grass a little bit later on this morning, just to see how she likes it. We don’t get opportunities to do that in other places. She’ll come back in the same race up here.”
Sight
Owned in partnership by Claiborne Farm and Wilson Thoroughbred Racing, the 2-year-old Munnings colt looks to make his debut after two works at Saratoga, the last a 5-furlong move from the gate July 26. “I backed off on him after a work, but he’s OK. I might run him toward the end of the meet. He’s a very attractive, athletic horse.”
Unhidden Gem
Irish-bred 3-year-old daughter of No Nay Never owned by Bal Mar Equine looks to make her debut soon – really soon. She was ready to run last year, but had to stop training with a minor issue. Given time, she recovered and was aiming for a spring return. Her races have been rained off. She’s been excluded. She’s made the also-eligible list. She would have been the next one in Saturday’s eighth race, but nobody scratched. “She’s speedy. She’s sitting on tilt, ready to go at any time. We’d run anywhere from 5 1/2 furlongs to a flat mile and we’re looking forward to running here. She’s literally been ready to run since April. Life of a turf horse. She’ll get over there. If not here, there’s always Kentucky Downs.”
Something Stronger
Bal Mar’s 2-year-old Justify filly out of the Frankel mare Lora Padora breezed a half-mile in :48.75 on the turf July 19 and is headed toward her debut. Sunday, she was conserving energy in a deep sleep – flat out across the stall – as a Saratoga morning rattled around her. “Let her sleep. She’s a
nice-looking filly looking to run at the end of the meet.”
Banned For Life
Spendthrift Farm’s Maximus Mischief colt, a $250,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic’s 2-year-old sale last year, has been second, third (twice), fourth and fifth in five starts. “We’re shocked that he’s still a maiden. He was third as a favorite at Churchill in the mud (June 30). He was second in the last race on Derby Day. He’s not giving us everything that he has. We’re going to run him 6 1/2 furlongs (Aug. 10) and we’re going to try and take him back a little bit and keep him in a pack of horses and see if that keeps his attention. He’s been a little isolated on the lead, but there’s a lot in the tank, and there’s a lot of physical there.”
Gavea
Bal Mar’s German-bred won her debut at Chantilly last summer and her American debut at Churchill in September. She earned a Grade 3 placing at Churchill June 1 and was a gutsy fourth after setting the pace in the Lake George here July 20. “She’s our little red caboose, or engine, that could. She’s small, but she’s got the heart of a lion. She ran a great race in her comeback at Churchill when she hit the board in a Grade 3, which is going to help her way down the road get in races, because the preferences have changed a little bit. That race the other day was tough. The winner (Pounce) is a graded stakes winner at multiple tracks now. Second place (Oversubscribed) was a Belmont/Aqueduct stakes swimmer. Third place (Vive Veuve) was a stakes winner from Florida. And here she is, a non-winner of three who had one race the whole year. She gets beat a length and a neck. She had the one hole on the inner, we thought she’d make the lead and she did, but she doesn’t have to be there. She’s very smart, the kind of horse you like being around. She’s straightforward and she’s got a lot of fight to her. You’d take a barn full of her.”
Over And Ollie
Dennis Narlinger’s Cairo Prince gelding won a $40,000 turf maiden claimer here July 12 – complete with a flying dismount by Frankie Dettori in the winner’s circle – off a 12th in maiden special weight company to start the year at Churchill Downs a month earlier. The gray finished last of 11 in his debut for Stall in June 2023, then went to Sid Attard in Canada for three starts at Woodbine. Gelded since, the 4-year-old returned a changed horse. “I had him before, and he was just a jerk. They gelded him and turned him out and he’s a better version of himself. We kind of slid him into the 40, and we’re happy to win the race and keep him. It was really fun to have Frankie ride the horse and
put on his show. He said he wasn’t going to do it and the crowd started going, ‘Frankie, Frankie, Frankie’ and there he went. He will run back in the mile-andthree-eighths starter (Aug. 9).”
Strong State
Highlander Training Center’s 2-year-old filly finished second in her debut at Churchill Downs June 16, then graduated the maiden ranks on Opening Day here in an auction-price restricted race and aims for the Grade 1 Spinaway Aug. 31. The daughter of former Stall trainee Tom’s d’Etat prevailed
by a neck over Will Not Be Swayed, who had 14 lengths on Teca in third. “The winner of her first race (Sherbini) was second in the Schuylerville here, that’s how tough the racing is at Churchill Downs. The third-place horse from that race (Dare To Breeze) won from here to the kitchen (July 13). They might all end up in the Spinaway, out of an auction maiden race. She runs a little bit hotter than Tom did, but she’s been very straightforward from day one. We didn’t flunk math, the purse here is $80,000 and it’s 30-something at Ellis Park. We took her off the truck and ran her. The seven-eighths (of the Spinaway) should suit, she’s out of a Colonel John mare.”
Stall said he brought fewer 2-year-olds than some years, not fewer good 2-year-olds.
“I didn’t bring as many that we have to build up, breeze out of the gate and do a lot with. I should have said I didn’t bring as many 2-year-olds that needed a lot of work. She was a made product. We took her off the van and ran her.”
Unleash The Power
Columbine Stable’s homebred Curlin gelding is 0-for-2 this year and looks to fix that in Friday’s sixth race, a $50,000 starter allowance, going a mile on the turf – a dozen years after his dam Magical Moon broke her maiden for Stall at Saratoga. “He looks like he’s one of the choices in there. We’re looking forward to running him a flat mile. That seems to be his thing. He’s had two troubled trips in a-other-thans at Churchill and we don’t have a 50 starter there. I wasn’t glad he got beat in his last race, but I knew there was a Plan B. Joel Rosario gets put in the Hall of Fame Friday morning and he rides our horse that afternoon. That’s going to be fun.”
Pipes And Drums
John McCulloch’s homebred won six races at Louisiana tracks Delta Downs and Evangeline Downs for trainer Victor “Doobie” Arcenaux before moving to Stall’s barn in May 2023. The 6-year-old finished third for a $50,000 claiming tag at Churchill June 29, his second start off a 10-month layoff. “Doobie is a good friend of mine and he retired so they sent me this horse. He’s a hard-knocking
horse, he’s had two races back and we’re going to enter for 40 Aug. 4. Hopefully he fits in that spot. If not, we’ll go down.”
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