By Tim Wilkin
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Tuesday, trainer Ian Wilkes spent 12 hours driving from Kentucky to Saratoga Race Course. By the end of the day Saturday, he is hoping that the time he spent behind the wheel was worth it.
Only his 3-year-old filly Just Basking (Arrogate) will be able to let him know if the journey was justified.
Just Basking is one of eight 3-year-old fillies entered to run in the $600,000 GI Alabama Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga.
“If you can't believe in your horse, you shouldn't be here,” Wilkes said Wednesday morning after Just Basking had her bath at the private barn of trainer Jim Bond, where Wilkes's filly is bunking this week. “I wouldn't come.”
Wilkes, the 59-year-old from Muswellbrook, Australia, believes.
Just Basking, who will be ridden by Chris Landeros, will be making her graded stakes debut in the Alabama. She is coming off a dominant 4 3/4-length win in the Iowa Oaks at Prairie Meadows on July 6 for owners Andrew Schwarz and Wendy Schwarz Gilder.
That is what convinced Wilkes to get Just Basking a van reservation. He also said it would have made no difference to him if Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) had shown up in the Alabama rather than running vs. the boys in the $1.25-million, Grade I Traves next weekend.
“I would have been here,” Wilkes said. “I don't think I can beat Thorpedo Anna, but if she would have created a small (Alabama) field, I know I can get a strong mile and a quarter. A Grade I placing would help her value.”
Just Basking broke her maiden at the odd distance of 1 1/4 miles Apr. 27 at Churchill, winning by 7 1/4 lengths. That was her third career start. What followed was a disappointing fifth place finish at 1 1/8 miles as the favorite, also at Churchill.
“She got a little confused in that race (first start vs winners),” Wilkes said. “They went slow and she had to figure it out. What I liked in that race was that she really took off in the last 50 yards.”
She then put it all together at Prairie Meadows.
That got Wilkes to return to Saratoga, a place where he has spent the whole summer for years. He can't remember the last time he wasn't here for the entire season. And that dates back to before he went out on his own in 2006 after spending the prior 13 years as an assistant to future Hall of Famer Carl Nafzger.
Saratoga has been a place for key moments in his career. He got his first graded stakes win (GII Amsterdam with Court Folly in 2006) and first Grade I win (Capt. Candyman Can in 2009).
He said he stayed in Kentucky this summer because it got too expensive to ship his stable to Saratoga for the 40-day meet.
“Saratoga is unique,” Wilkes said. “You miss it. It's a great place, great for racing. People love Saratoga. Owners love to come to Saratoga. There are two places owners love to win: Saratoga and Keeneland.”
Win or lose on Saturday, Wilkes will stick around for another week. He is planning on running Positano Sunset (Goldencents) in the $500,000 GI Ballerina on Travers Day.
'Skippy' Set to Defend His Title in Charles Town Classic
Skippylongstocking | SV Photography
Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator), fresh off his fifth-place finish in the GI Whitney Stakes, is hitting the road. The 5-year-old horse, trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr. and owned by Daniel Alonso, will defend his title in the $1-million, GII Charles Town Classic Aug. 23 in West Virginia.
“This looks like a good spot for him,” Joseph said outside his barn on the Saratoga backstretch. “He has bounced out of (the Whitney) really well; that's why we're going. And we know he likes that track.”
He will have a work this weekend and van to West Virginia on Wednesday, Joseph said.
Skippylongstocking won the 1 1/8-mile Charles Town Classic last year by five lengths with a front-running score. The unique configuration of the track means the race will have three turns.
“Some horses can't handle that track,” Joseph said. “We know he can handle it.”
Skippylongstocking will be making his 26th career start in the Charles Town Classic. He has eight wins, two seconds and five third-place finishes.
This year, he has two wins in five starts. The two victories came in the GIII Challenger Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs Mar. 9 and the GII Oaklawn Handicap at Oaklawn Park Apr. 20. Before the Whitney, he was third in the GI Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs June 29.
Joseph has driven to West Virginia for the race in the past, but isn't sure if he will be making the trip this time. He has two horses–Honor D Lady (Honor Code) and Soul of an Angel (Atreides)–being pointed to the GI Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga on the same day.
The Charles Town Classic had a post time of 10:25 p.m. last year.
Joseph said he has not decided if he will head to West Viginia or one of his assistants will do the saddling duties for the Charles Town Classic.
Repole Keeping The Faith As Fierceness Nears His Date With The Travers
Mike Repole | Sarah Andrew
It has been well documented that Fierceness (City of Light), one of the top 3-year-old colts in training, can't put two solid efforts together back-to-back. Or, hasn't.
Mike Repole, his confident owner with a rat-a-tat-tat delivery with an accent straight out of Queens, knows what Fierceness is going to do when he enters the starting gate for the $1.25-million, Grade I Travers Stakes Aug 24.
“I'm looking for him to run fourth in the Travers and then win the (GI Breeders' Cup) Classic by seven,” Repole said. “What have I got to lose? We can't figure the horse out. His four wins, he has won with brilliance and amazing times. The three losses? We scratch our heads.”
Fierceness is coming off a good day at Saratoga July 27 when he won the GII Jim Dandy Stakes by a length over Sierra Leone (Gun Runner). That was his first start since the GI Kentucky Derby when he laid an egg, finishing 15th as the favorite.
Before that, he dominated the GI Florida Derby, winning by a record 13 1/4 lengths; the race before he fizzled to third in the GIII Holy Bull.
Good race. Not so good race. A pattern.
Repole and his Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher aren't really buying into that.
When Fierceness is on top of his game, he is at the top of the list for best 3-year-olds in the country. He has won both of his career starts at Saratoga; he broke his maiden at the Spa by 11 1/4 lengths in his career debut last summer.
Right now, Repole is crossing his fingers that his Kentucky homebred is beyond the good-race-bad-race modus operandi.
“Eventually, he has to put two of them together, right?” Repole said. “There is a lot on the line in the Travers. This is a big boy race.”
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