Stable Tours

Ron Moquett isn’t concerned with win percentages and makes no bones about it.

He’s concerned with developing the horses in his care and that’s exactly what he hopes to do with his string of 10 bedded down in the Clark Stakes Barn just behind the paddock on Frank Sullivan Place. (Editor’s note: Originally published in July 24 issue of The Saratoga Special.)

Trainer Mark Casse hesitated and then said it. “I think we’ve got about eight millionaires in the barn. Wow. That’s something when you think about it.” Then he started counting. “Kaigun, Dynamic Sky, Lexie Lou, Za Approval – they’re in Canada. And here we’ve got Tepin, Catch A Glimpse and . . . well, maybe there’s only six. I think there’s one more though. That’s going to bother me.” (Editor’s note: Originallay published in July 23 issue of The Saratoga Special.)

Todd Pletcher’s stable is loaded and deep. This is nothing new, at least in recent memory, as Pletcher begins his quest for a seventh straight and 13th career training title when racing begins today at Saratoga Race Course. (Editor’s note: Originally published in July 22 issue of The Saratoga Special.) 

With 30 horses during the recently concluded meet at Saratoga and 40 at Belmont Park, Rudy Rodriguez was busy. Asked about making an appointment for a Stable Tour, Rodriguez laughed, “I’m here all day.”

Mark Hennig was ready to get back home to Belmont Park. Not because he isn’t a fan of Saratoga, but because he’s got plenty of young prospects he hopes to run there this fall and where he’ll get Merry Meadow ready for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

The days were ticking away and Bruce Brown’s barn on the Oklahoma Training Track was showing the signs of a waning meeting.

Occupied stalls alternated with empty stalls along the shedrow, the horses left behind slated to run over closing weekend or those left behind not far from shipping back downstate to Belmont Park. He was fairly loaded for the last few days of the meeting, including a busy closing day when he was already back home in Floral Park with his wife and three children.

Abby Adsit is always on the go. She talks fast, walks fast and it’s easy to see she likes the action of the racetrack.

A majority of the horses that were in Adsit’s barn on the Saratoga Race Course backstretch this past meet near the three-quarter pole were claimers, along with her personal favorite and turf allowance mare Flamingo Lane.

In honor of the final edition of The Saratoga Special for 2015, we were proud to bring readers the “Little Guy” Stable Tour. We scoured the grounds, searching Horse Haven, Oklahoma, the main track, the harness track, the stakes barn and Gridley Street to bring you the trainers and horses who might not have made headlines this summer, but certainly earned recognition and respect. We even scaled a cyclone fence to track down a trainer flying below the radar. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find the likes of Desmond Farrell, Lars Becdelamotte, Bill Allyn, Bill Hickey, Bill Heffner, Eddie Miller and we only found Joe Parker’s golf cart. Next year!

Trainer Graham Motion and his horses spent a lot of time on Interstate 87 this summer, bouncing between the base at Maryland’s Fair Hill Training Center and a barn on the far turn at Saratoga Race Course.

Led by stakes wins by Tacticus in the Birdstone and Under Control in the Lure heading the list, Motion won six races at the meet with nine seconds and nine thirds from 57 starts.

Tony Dutrow enjoyed an excellent meet at Saratoga Race Course in 2015. He sent out 20 starters and 17 finished first, second or third. Seven of the 20 starters were winners, none bigger than Embellish The Lace’s front-running score in the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes. She shipped out shortly after the Alabama and was back at Dutrow’s base at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland as the meet wound down.