By Tim Wilkin
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.–There is a good reason why White Sands (Into Mischief), the 3-1 morning-line favorite for Sunday's $200,000, GIII Adirondack for 2-year-old fillies at Saratoga Race Course, isn't going to run.
She's not here.
Trainer Wesley Ward said Saturday morning on the Saratoga backstretch that White Sands is at Keeneland and likely waiting for one of two races at Del Mar next weekend: the $150,000 GIII Sorrento for 2-year-old fillies on Aug. 10 or the $150,000 GIII Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds on Aug. 11.
White Sands, owned by Mrs. John Magnier and Linda Shanahan, has won both of her career starts at places you don't normally see Ward youngsters run. She broke her maiden at Belterra Park in Cincinnati on May 25, winning by 9 1/2 lengths.
She then went to Prairie Meadows in Iowa and beat colts in the Prairie Gold Juvenile Stakes on July 6. That seemed even easier as she romped by 13 3/4 lengths.
Wesley Ward | Keeneland
The impressive victories are not what you would first notice about White Sands. She only has one eye.
Ward said the right eye is missing on the filly, who is a half-sister to 2021 champion sprinter Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music).
“We took it so carefully with her,” Ward said. “We always trained her with a friend.”
Ward decided not to have White Sands run in baby races at Keeneland or Churchill Downs or Belmont (at Aqueduct) because of her handicap.
“I just thought I would wait and let her come and try to get her maiden broke at Belterra where you would not expect, with the purse structure there, to be anything of consequence like there would be at Churchill or Keeneland or Belmont,” Ward said. “She got in there and was a heavy favorite and won convincingly which is what we wanted.”
After dominating the competition in her first two starts, that handicap has become a distant memory.
“She bounced out to the front (in the race against colts) and off she went,” Ward said. “Now, she just trains like any other horse.”
Ward said there is some talk of maybe bringing White Sands to Saratoga for the $150,000 Bolton Landing, a 5 1/2-furlong race for 2-year-old fillies on the grass on Aug. 18. However, Ward said that where he trains in Lexington, there is no turf breezing available.
If the Bolton Landing were to be an option, White Sands would come to Saratoga to train.
“That would take us away from going to California, so we are kind of stuck,” Ward said. “We have to make a decision in the next few days.”
Trainer Beckman Not Worried No One Is Talking About Honor Marie
As the Saratoga meet barrels towards the $1.25 million GI Travers Stakes, all–or most of–the attention is on horses named Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and Dornoch (Good Magic), Fierceness (City of Light), Seize the Grey (Arrogate) and Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and, most recently, Muth (Good Magic).
Honor Marie | Sarah Andrew
It seems like Honor Marie (Honor Code) has been the forgotten horse.
He hasn't gone anywhere. He's still over at trainer Whit Beckman's barn and he's working just as hard as the others to get ready for the Midsummer Derby.
It's just that no one is talking about him.
Maybe it's because Honor Marie hasn't won a big one yet. He is 0-4 this year with a second in the GII Louisiana Derby being his best finish. He was eighth in the GI Kentucky Derby and fourth in the GI Belmont Stakes with less-than-ideal trips.
“That's ok,” Beckman said outside his barn Saturday morning when asked about the lack of attention his horse has gotten. “Some people have lost interest a little bit. He has been out of sight, out of mind. You have a lot of high-profile horses coming in here, like those that ran in the (GII) Jim Dandy or a horse like Muth that is super flashy and super strong.”
Beckman is confident that his horse fits with these. And he'll get his chance to prove it. He is scheduled to have a five-furlong work Sunday morning on the Oklahoma. Beckman said that Tyler Gaffalione will be on board for the work.
Gaffalione has worked the horse twice at Saratoga and he has also been teamed with Irad Ortiz Jr. and Manny Franco in the mornings.
Beckman is still waiting to see who will ride Honor Marie in the Travers.
“We will have someone lined up soon,” he said. “I want to get the best fit for the horse.”
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