SARATOGA SPRINGS — The future has arrived. The history will be then shortly. A promising long career as a coach is in the making for Joseph Patrick O’Brien, the apple- cheeked 29- time-old from Ireland whose last name invokes the decades of success enjoyed by his father, trainer Aidan. Joseph O’Brien was an intriguing presence at Saratoga Race Course on the alternate Friday of the match, as he flew across the Atlantic Ocean to laden two misses. We ’re not awaiting to see his father, the long- time head coach for one of the most important racing operations in the world, this weekend, but he does have a steed in Saturday’s$ 1 million Saratoga Derby Invitational, Stone Age, who arrived on Sunday. Catching our breath through 14 of 40 racing days at Saratoga, it’s worth taking a look back at what we ’ve seen so far and what lies ahead – it’s Whitney Week, after all. contending continues on Wednesday with the prospect of temperatures in the medial 90’s on Thursday and rain on Friday. And Life Is Good on Saturday. The Whitney field will be drawn at 11a.m. Wednesday with what’s anticipated to be a field of five led by steed of the Time contender Life Is Good. The ground formerly covered at this match includes two maiden races in which the youngish O’Brien ladened nags who each finished fourth.
It’s maybe a measure of the appeal of Saratoga, which is offering pocketbooks as high as$,000 for 2- time-old demoiselle races, that Joseph O’Brien actually has a many nags encamped then for the first time, as opposed to last time, when he rarely packed from Ireland, but hit the jackpot when State of Rest won the Saratoga Derby Invitational at odds of 21- 1. “ We ’re hoping they can run well, ” O’Brien said on July 22, after Alexis Zorba was fourth under John Velazquez. “ That’s all. That’s what we ’re then for. It’s a literacy experience. “ I do n’t know, but there’s a lot of prize plutocrat on offer, and we ’re hoping to have some nags that can contend for it. ” There presumably is innumerous pressure on O’Brien to uphold the family name. Besides dominating Europe as the head coach for the Coolmore operation and having won every important race there, Aidan O’Brien has further than made his mark on this side of the Atlantic, having won 13 Breeders ’ Cup races, including six in the BC Turf, since 2001. Still, Joseph O’Brien does n’t show it, neither through his address nor his track record, If there’s pressure.
As a jockey, he won the Breeders ’ Cup Turf for his father aboard St Nicholas Abbey, also came a coach in 2016 and won the BC missy & Mare Turf with Iridessa in 2019, three times after changing jobs. On July 22 at Saratoga, there was a once- performance record for a steed in the first race that you do n’t see frequently, a third- time starter coming off a alternate at Naas Racecourse in County Kildare, Ireland, and a alternate at Dundalk Stadium, County Louth, Ireland. Ridden by John Velazquez, the O’Brien- trained Alexis Zorba had an awkward launch and no kick to the finish and was fourth. Stablemate Reckoning Force, last seen at Listowel Races, northeast of Tralee in County Kerry, endured a veritably analogous fate the following day. “ Johnny said he( Alexis Zorba) just acted out in the gate a bit, and obviously he missed the gate, ” O’Brien said. “ It happed a bit quick for him. I suppose he ’d like to go a little bit further over then. ” O’Brien is back in Ireland but will return for the Fasig- Tipton deals onAug. 8- 9 and maybe again to watch his nags run. “ I do n’t suppose you have to make a case for Saratoga, with the support this match gets each over the world, ” he said. “ You see in the Derby and Oaks being lawn competition, and just the quantum people that come to the racing then every day.
It’s a beautiful place to be, and it’s great to be then. Every place has its own complications, and this is a beautiful place and we love coming then. Every place has its own identity. ” A LOOK BACK NEW CHUTER — important was made of the new Wilson Chute, the short extension added to the main track off the club turn that would go a fair configuration to run one- afar races on the main track. Thepre-race opinion was lukewarm- to-favorable; thepost-race opinion – from jockeys who had to navigate the new terrain – leaned toward yeah-fine- whatever. It did come in handy on two occasions when afar- and-a-sixteenth turf races were rained off and could be run at a distance on the main track similar to what was intended, as opposed to dropping down to seven furlongs.
ATTENDANCE HANDLE — The New York Racing Association was happy to trumpet significantly advanced figures over the first four days of racing in 2022 compared to the same stretch last time. All- sources handle was over over 18, as was on- track handle, presumably since paid admission was over over 10. The figures remained solid after the two posterior five- days ages, bolstered by a crowd number of,476 and over$ 33 million in all- sources handle on Jim Dandy Day. steed DEATHS Since opening day on July 14, there have been no reported equine deaths from incidents that passed during races, according to the New York State Gaming Commission’s Equine Breakdown, Death, Injury and Incident Database. There have been two deaths from training incidents, both on the Oklahoma Training Track, since that track across the road from the main track opened for exercises in April. Range War, an unraced recruit trained by Todd Pletcher, was “ injured on the Oklahoma while brushing ” on June 3, according to the database, and Vindatude, a 3- time-old missy trained by George Weaver, “ collapsed while jogging and failed – falling and cascading the exercise rider Cindy Hutter. ” Hutter, who has been married to Weaver for 20 times, suffered a severe brain injury in the incident. Weaver told the Daily Racing Form last Thursday that his woman
, who has been in a coma, has shown some small encouraging signs of responsiveness since being transferred from Albany Medical Center to a recovery installation in Boston. In the NYSGC database’s “ other ” order for equine deaths, Supernova, an unraced 2- time-old recruit trained by Danny Gargan, failed on June 22 from “ apparent peritonitis, ” an frequently fatal inflammation of the abdominal wall.
Coaches JOCKEYS — No surprise, Chad Brown( 15 triumphs) and Todd Pletcher( 12) have snappily separated themselves from the rest of the field in the coach standings. Irad Ortiz,Jr. presently holds the upper hand in the jockey race, with 22 triumphs, but who would trade places with Joel Rosario, in alternate? Among his 17 triumphs is a huge double on Saturday aboard Jackie’s Warrior in theA.G. Vanderbilt and Epicenter in the Jim Dandy, Clairiere in the Shuvee and In Italian in the Diana. Last time’s winner, Luis Saez, is right behind Rosario with 16.
A LOOK AHEAD TRAVERS — Speaking of Epicenter, he goes straight to the top of the Travers favorite list off that palm, and with the Haskell and Jim Dandy in the books, then’s what the field forAug. 27 is shaping up to look like center; Chad Brown triad of Zandon, Early Voting and Curlin winner Artorius; Kentucky Derby winner and Belmont lemon Rich Strike; Charge It, who won the Dwyer by 23 lengths; and Haskell winner Cyberknife. Todd Pletcher has n’t ruled out the superfilly Nest, who was a atrocious alternate in the Belmont and crushed the CCA Oaks, but she’s much more likely to just stick to her division and run in the Alabama onAug. 20.
HALL OF FAME — The contemporary order is light this time, with just the mares Beholder and Tepin going by, and no humans, although there are several of those going in via the Pillars of the Turf and literal Committee avenues. Beholder noway ran at Saratoga, and Tepin contended then just doubly and was second both times, in the 2015 Diana and Ballston Spa. The form, which starts at 1030a.m. Friday, is open and free to the public at the HumphreyS. Finney Deals Pavilion a couple blocks from the track up East Avenue. WHITNEY — From Friday to Sunday, NYRA is handing out$4.15 million in pocketbooks over eight graded stakes, stressed by the 95th handling of the$ 1 million Whitney. Life Is Good, who has been working faultlessly for this spot, is n’t just chasing the Whitney, but a possible steed of the Year title at the end of 2022, so the stakes are much advanced than just bag plutocrat and the prestige of winning one of the most important races on the North American timetable.
