Barbara D. Livingston
Spirit of St Louis (above) won the Ashley Cole and Mohawk at the end of the 2023 season, beating City Man in both races.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – If someone told you that the last race on the Sunday card at Saratoga was a $300,000, Grade 2 stakes, you wouldn’t say they were crazy. The $125,000 Kingston Stakes for New York-breds at 1 1/16 miles on turf is that strong.
The Kingston lured an overflow field 16, a dozen in the main body, three also-eligibles, and one main-track-only horse, Jackson Heights.
City Man headed this division in 2021, 2022, and early in 2023, when he started his spring-summer campaign with a third in the Grade 2 Fort Marcy, a win in the Kingston at Belmont Park, and a victory in the West Point at Saratoga. Seven-year-old City Man has breezed steadily toward his first start of 2024, but last fall, Spirit of St Louis appeared to knock City Man off his perch.
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Spirit of St Louis made his stakes debut in the West Point last August, battling for the lead much of the trip before City Man pounced from a stalking position and won by 1 1/4 lengths. Two more New York-bred turf route stakes remained on the calendar, the Ashley Cole and the Mohawk, and Spirit of St Louis won both. City Man was third in the Cole, second in the Mohawk.
And while City Man races for the first time since Oct. 29, Spirit of St Louis had his first start of the year last month in the $150,000 Danger’s Hour at Aqueduct, where he got first run on his favored stablemate, Equitize, and won by 1 3/4 lengths.
“He’s an open stakes horse, for sure,” said trainer Chad Brown. “But I didn’t want to mess with what we had going on right now.”
Spirit of St Louis, a 5-year-old gelding with a Kentucky pedigree (Medaglia d’Oro out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Khancord Kid) is an interesting case. His first published workout shows up in May 2021 at Saratoga and he breezed for 10 weeks toward a 2-year-old debut that never came. In fact, Spirit of St Louis didn’t make the races until February 2023, belatedly starting his career with two strong dirt showings.
“Even then I could see he was going to be a better horse on turf,” Brown said.
He is. Spirit of St Louis is 5-1-0 from six turf starts. His last four Beyer Speed Figures have been 96 or 97. He can press or stalk the pace and came from more than seven lengths off the lead in the fast-paced Danger’s Hour. Jockey Manny Franco has options from post 1.
Prudent players may be disinclined to take a short price even on the most likely winner in a 1 1/16-mile turf contest with a full field – the sort of race where luck nearly as much as talent can determine the outcome.
City Man would be among the less appealing alternatives as the 5-2 second choice on the morning line. Jerry the Nipper, Chulainn, and Dakota Gold at the very peak of his powers, could win if good fortune smiles. Saratoga Flash, drawn in post 12, nearly won the open Appleton Stakes when last seen March 30 in Florida.
“He’s been training great since the Appleton,” said trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., “but I can’t believe how tough the race came up.”
Believe it.
Mount Vernon Stakes
The trainer David Donk going into the first day of the Belmont Stakes Festival at Saratoga had five winners from 84 starters so far this year. Just shows how statistics can mislead.
Donk long ago proved himself a highly competent trainer, and if you somehow missed that old memo, Donk issued a reminder here Thursday.
Donk had two first-time starters in a New York-bred maiden turf route. Teta’s Trotter, who already looked like a winner at the five-eighths pole, came home a half-length to the good at 26-1. Donk’s other firster, 56-1 Wind Dancer, finished a competitive third.
With that in mind, don’t count Snowy Evening out of the $125,000 Mount Vernon Stakes, a one-mile grass race for New York-bred fillies and mares Sunday. Snowy Evening makes the third start of her 4-year-old campaign, a confluence of patterns that can lead to a career-best performance.
Snowy Evening needs a career best in the Mount Vernon, but this is just her second stakes start, and the filly’s established form doesn’t lie far below what ought to be required to win.
That’s because Marvelous Maude in the first start of her 6-year-old season looked nothing like her former self. Marvelous Maude, a solid high-80s Beyer kind of horse, made one start during 2023, a win in the Mount Vernon. Connections considered retirement, trainer Chad Brown said, but instead brought Marvelous Maude back to race this year. She was 3-2 favorite for her comeback run, the Plenty of Grace on April 28, and checked in third of four, beaten 10 lengths.
“I wondered if she was at the age where she didn’t want to be a racehorse any longer,” Brown said Friday at Saratoga. “Then I got her up here, and boom, her last two works she’s looked like the Maude I know.”
Brown’s second entrant, lightly raced Overacting, won her 2024 debut and never has been worse than third in four starts. She also has learning yet to do.
“She can be a difficult filly. She pulls. She needs to relax,” Brown said.
And who beat Overacting in two allowance races last fall? Snowy Evening. Donk might have another horse ready to roll.
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