Barbara D. Livingston
Roses for Debra comes into the Grade 2 Intercontinental off a win in the Grade 3 Giant’s Causeway Stakes over good turf at Keeneland in April.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Spring showers might bring flowers, but Saratoga showers won’t necessarily help Roses for Debra bloom. The forecast creates an opportunity for those tackling the favorite in Friday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Intercontinental Stakes for fillies and mares sprinting on the Saratoga turf.
Roses for Debra won four straight races last year, including the Grade 3 Caress and Smart N Fancy stakes, both on the Saratoga turf at the Intercontinental’s 5 1/2-furlong distance. But her streak was snapped when she was third – against males – in the Grade 3 Turf Monster Stakes on a yielding Parx Racing course.
Thunderstorms are likely in Saratoga on Thursday, with an 85 percent chance of rain overall. Showers are possible Friday, and it’s unlikely the turf will have much opportunity to dry out.
“I hope we don’t have too much rain, but I can’t control that,” trainer Christophe Clement said, adding the decision of whether to run if conditions aren’t optimal would be up to owners Cheyenne Stable and John O’Meara. “I don’t feel good about it, but there’s not much I can do about it.”
Roses for Debra finished ninth in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita. In her first start off the layoff, she won the Grade 3 Giant’s Causeway Stakes on a Keeneland course rated good but which had taken plenty of April rain through the week. The mare closed from fourth in the stretch into very sharp fractions to win by 1 1/4 lengths over Love Reigns, who she would face again here.
Clement will saddle a second mare in Gal in a Rush, an allowance winner last summer at Saratoga. She was second by a neck in the License Fee Stakes last month at Aqueduct, her first start in nearly nine months, and is eligible to improve second off the layoff.
“She’s very nice,” Clement said. “She’s training well.”
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Looking for those who might benefit from wet weather, Run for the Hills and Medalla Match were third and fourth, respectively, on a yielding Churchill Downs course in the Grade 3 Unbridled Sidney Stakes five weeks ago. Run for the Hills came with a seven-wide rally under Jose Ortiz – who retains the mount Friday – and missed by a half-length to the streaking Ova Charged. Meanwhile, Medalla Match was making her first start for Cherie DeVaux after previously being trained by Michael Biehler.
Future Is Now has been on or near the lead in some of her stronger efforts, including when she was a solid second in the Captiva Island Stakes earlier this year. She showed a different dimension that pleased trainer Mike Trombetta when kicking on from third to win the The Very One Stakes at Pimlico last out. That race was contested on a course rated good after midweek rain.
“She has a good turn of foot,” Trombetta said. “What she did the other day was nice, she rated off the pace and made a run late. . . . She had not done that before, so that was good.”
Love Reigns is drawn outside in the field of 10, where she should be able to settle for Joel Rosario – and the lightly raced filly should start settling into a racing rhythm for Wesley Ward in her second start off an eight-month layoff, and just her fourth start in the last two seasons.
Ward also entered Kaufymaker, who has not started since October. While she was cross-entered for the Mighty Beau Stakes on Saturday at Churchill Downs, Ward indicated she would run in New York.
Kaufymaker, a front-running allowance winner last August at Saratoga, would add classy speed to the race, with the other committed pace horses seemingly being longshots Everyoneloveslinda and Lady Milagro. A strong pace would benefit Roses for Debra, Gal in a Rush, Run for the Hills, and Love Reigns, among others. The versatility of Future Is Now should serve her well.
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