OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Michael Campbell told anybody who would listen that Patriot Spirit was going to run a big race in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Vosburgh Stakes at Aqueduct.
Apparently, a lot of people listened. Patriot Spirit, sent off as the 5-2 second choice in a field of nine – he was 5-1 on the morning-line – took over from the pacesetting Light the Way in upper stretch and held the late-running Crazy Mason at bay to win the Vosburgh by 1 1/2 lengths and earn his way to the $2
million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 1. The Vosburgh was part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series that awarded an automatic fees-paid berth into the Sprint.

“I expected the effort,” said the 75-year-old Campbell, who said he’s been training horses since 1972. “I don’t want to sound pompous because I know it’s difficult to win a horse race – there’s nothing more difficult. On this occasion, in this spot, with this horse and being that right, I didn’t think he could get beat.”

It was Patriot Spirit’s four-length victory in the Reigh Count Stakes at Colonial Downs on July 26 that fueled his confidence. Patriot Spirit had won the Inaugural Stakes and Illinois Derby as a 3-year-old, but it was the last race where Campbell saw a different horse.

“When you’ve been around the game as long as I’ve been, what happens is you recognize those watershed moments in a horse’s career: ‘this guy is finally turning the corner,’ “ said Campbell, who maintains a 10-horse stable. “He’s won six out of 15 starts, but it was that race that triggered something in him and triggered something in me to come here with confidence.”

There were no superstars in the Vosburgh. Scotland, runner-up in the Grade 1 Forego, was made the favorite. Crazy Mason, the Grade 2 Carter winner, was the 3-1 third choice. But Patriot Spirit had more early speed than they did in a race that didn’t appear to have much speed at all.

Jockey Javier Castellano had Patriot Spirit within a head of Light the Way through a quarter in 22.76 seconds. There was no half-mile time posted due to a timing issue, per the Equibase chart.

Patriot Spirit got first run on the closers and was never seriously challenged in the stretch. Crazy Mason rallied up the fence under Manny Franco to get second by a half-length over Scotland. Doc
Sullivan was fourth, followed by Light the Way, Nash, The Golden Gorilla and Baby Yoda.

“Really fast,” said Castellano, who was riding Patriot Spirit for the first time. “I spoke to the trainer this morning and he said, ‘he’s really fast out of the gate, if you’ve got the speed, it’s OK, don’t get panicked. Just save something for the end.’ That’s what I did.”

Patriot Spirit, a son of Constitution owned by George Mellon, covered seven furlongs in 1:21.84 (96 Beyer Speed Figure) and returned $7.22 to win.

Patriot Spirit, who has been based at Colonial Downs all summer, will ship to Keeneland to prepare for the Breeders’ Cup. Campbell has had one other Breeders’ Cup starter, Private Prospect, who finished ninth in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. That horse was ridden by his son Jesse.

“That was very exciting, this will be very exciting, too,” Campbell said.

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In the sixth race at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 8, 2-year-old first-time starter Aye Eye  bumped the gate at the break, broke slowly, lagged 19 1/2 lengths behind, and ran one of the most impressive races of the summer meeting.

The connections of Aye Eye were more like “ai yi yi” when the gates opened and their horse was literally nowhere to be seen. Neither the horse nor his tracking chip appeared on the screen for at least half of the six-furlong race. 

Yet, when the field came around the final turn, there was the gray/roan colt, still far back, but eating up ground. Rider Javier Castellano had kept the son of Essential Quality   close to the rail, but now swung him wide, but not wide enough to avoid getting stuck behind horses.

Castellano moved left, moved right, on a horse full of run with nowhere to go. Five wide, he moved four paths inside within half a dozen strides, then slipped to the rail just in front of Tactics , pulling away to win by 1 1/2 lengths.  

“That was a big, exciting race for all of us,” said trainer Joe Orseno. “I’ve never won a race like that before.” 

Castellano had never been on the horse, and the only instructions Orseno gave him were to try to overcome the inside post. 

“It’s hard for horses because you have to load first, and you have to wait for the rest of the field,” said Castellano. “It’s a process for the horses. You don’t know how they can react.” 

Whatever plan Castellano had was left at the gate as Aye Eye walked out. Going to the lead was no longer an option, leaving the jockey to ponder whether he should take a stab at contending or write the race off and hope for better luck next time.

“I didn’t rush,” he said. “I let him develop the pace himself and took my time. I didn’t lose confidence. I gave him a chance on the backside to develop himself. When I tapped him, he jumped on the bridle and started to travel better. I didn’t have to use him much.”

After the race, Orseno said that the colt had shown courage during morning workouts…but only when he was on the outside. On the inside, he was content to travel along with the horses he worked with.

It’s a good thing Castellano didn’t know that before the race, because at the top of the stretch, when he had to decide to go wide or go inside, he chose the latter.

“I decided not to go outside, because I didn’t want to split horses,” he said. “Sometimes when you split horses, you reduce the speed a little bit, or you get in close and the horse hesitates a little bit. But then I saw a lot of traffic, and I saw there was room inside. We moved to that hole and he took off.” 

Aye Eye was the longest shot in the eight-horse field, going off at 26.50-1 and paying $55 to win. 

A $140,000 RNA at last year’s Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Aye Eye was bred in Kentucky by Betz Thoroughbreds, DJ Stables/ Graves/Gainesway/Lamantia/Ramsby. He was purchased by Robert Cotran at this year’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training for $45,000.

By Essential Quality, he’s out of the Divine Park  mare Divine Queen , a multiple stakes winner who retired with earnings of $339,344.

Had Aye Eye met his reserve as a yearling, he wouldn’t have been eligible for the race he won, which is restricted to horses that sold or were RNAs for $60,000 in their most recent sale. It’s that condition that led Orseno to ship up from his New Jersey base. The condition was so popular that it was split into two divisions last Friday, with Orseno running in both legs. 

“We were coming with the horse in the first race, and when the races were split, it was a no-brainer to bring this one, too,” said the trainer.

As Aye Eye’s break made Castellano scrap whatever plan he had, Orseno may be doing the same, based on the colt’s performance.

“Truthfully, we’ve been thinking turf all along with this horse, because of the way he goes in the morning, but the way he just ran, we have to think about some different things. It’s a good problem to have.” 

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Trainer Mark Casse finally caught a glimpse of 3-year-old colt Dream On’s potential when he powered home to win the Grade 3, $400,000 Penn Mile on Friday at Penn National. The improving runner saved all the ground early and got the better of two stampeding rivals in the stretch to win by a length.
 Three horses in the Penn Mile scratched, including 7-5 morning-line favorite Zulu Kingdom, leaving Casse with the two shortest prices in a five-horse field. While Mi Bago, the 3-5 favorite in the gate, was considered a dangerous pacesetter with recent graded stakes experience, Dream On was the work in progress of the pair.

After finishing fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and inexplicably running flat in his return to stakes company at Tampa Bay Downs, Dream On bounced back to win his first stakes in the $125,000 Woodhaven in April. Casse still expected more from the colt coming off a layoff at Penn National.  “We’ll cherish this win for a while,” Casse said.

Early on in the Penn Mile, it seemed like Dream On might be one of several colts fighting for second when Mi Bago established a comfortable early lead through a quarter-mile in 23.97 seconds.
The heavy favorite continued to cruise along, completing a half-mile in 48.30 and still led by a half-length in the stretch until he suddenly began to fade. The colt has had issues on soft surfaces in the past, and it seemed to hurt his chances again as the Penn Mile suddenly became a wide-open affair.

At first, it seemed like Out On Bail, a colt trained by Mike Maker, might get the first crack at the lead until Dream On and jockey Javier Castellano angled off the rail and split horses in a bold bid for the lead.

“He relaxed,” Casse said. “In fact, it’s probably the best I’ve seen him relax. Javier gave him a great ride, saved ground, and when he asked him to go, he took off.”

Out On Bail continued charging and 15-1 longshot Cairo Caper continued making up ground from fourth, but Dream On got the jump on them and never relented. He held on to win over Cairo Caper, a Phil Schoenthal runner who prevailed over Out On Bail by a head for second. Dream On paid $6 to win and finished the mile in 1:35.62 on a yielding course.

Casse was happy with Dream On’s breakthrough and disappointed in Mi Bago’s flagging finish, but he has reasons to take it slow with both runners going forward. Mi Bago will likely get some rest this summer after racing through the winter in Florida, while the trainer hopes to bask in Dream On’s graded stakes triumph a little longer before considering a next start.

Laurelin stays unbeaten Penn Oaks Laurelin, a 3-year-old filly trained by Graham Motion, extended her undefeated streak to four races in the $150,000 Penn Oaks.

“She’s pretty straightforward, this filly,” Motion said. “She does things very nicely and puts the jocks in a good spot. [Jorge Ruiz] did a great job, and I thought she won very comfortably.”

The rising star only had to deal with four rivals Friday after nearly half of the Penn Oaks field scratched. Chad Brown didn’t ship Midway Memories and Accent, while Cherie DeVaux and Rusty Arnold chose to keep Love and Poetry and Love You Anyway in Kentucky. The remaining fillies in the field were still strong, however, and Laurelin dealt with them professionally to win by 1 1/4 lengths, paying $3.20 to win.

Settling into fourth behind 35-1 pacesetter Pure Majestic, Motion’s filly was never in an uncomfortable position in the tightly bunched group of closers. The early leader completed a quarter-mile in 23.88 and a half-mile in 48.22, but the rest of the field completed much softer fractions behind her and easily ran her down on the far turn.

Turning for home, Candy Quest, one of two fillies entered by Casse, struck the front first under Castellano to lead by a half-length, but Laurelin was already moving outside of her and closing fast down the center of the track.

Casse and Castellano had their moment later on in the Penn Mile, but the Oaks was Laurelin’s, as she and Ruiz cruised past to win comfortably. The heavy favorite finished the mile in 1:35.54.
Motion nearly entered Laurelin in the Grade 2 Wonder Again earlier this month, but the race was taken off the turf. The trainer doesn’t believe he can delay her ascendance to graded stakes company any longer.

“Next time,” Motion said when asked about a potential graded stakes debut. “I think we have to.”

It’s still a loose plan for now, but Motion said he is considering the Grade 2 Saratoga Oaks Invitational for Laurelin’s next start. It will be a challenge, but one she has certainly earned early in her career.

Conner sweeps Pennyslvania-bred stakes While high-profile connections were preparing to duke it out in the Penn Mile and Oaks on Friday evening at Penn National, jockey Tyler
Conner was putting on a one-man show in a pair of statebred $75,000 stakes.

Working out perfect trips in back-to-back races, the jockey was indisputably a difference maker guiding 6-year-old mare Corinna and 5-year-old gelding Fierce and Strong to victories in the Lyphard Stakes and Alphabet Soup Handicap.

Corinna was one of three horses entered in the Lyphard by trainer Michael Matz, whose odds improved even more when four runners scratched in the field of 12.

While her stablemates, Stern Chaser and Lady Outofthe Blue, were both contenders with stakes victories last year, she was making her stakes debut off a layoff of more than nine months.

Bettors made Corinna the longest shot of the Matz trio, but she appeared neither rusty nor outclassed Friday. Working toward the inside on the backstretch under Conner, the mare chased down a pair of loose front-runners, slipped up the rail, and cut the corner to take firm command at the top of the stretch.

Jeanne Marie, an 8-1 outsider trained by Butch Reid, followed along on the rail for second, while 5-2 favorite Princess Javoncia, trained by Elizabeth Merryman, swung wide into the stretch and had to settle for third. By the time those two came calling, Corinna and Conner were gone, powering home to win by 5 3/4 lengths. She finished the 1 1/16-mile race in 1:41.75 and paid $18.20 to win.

While Conner’s work on Corinna revolved around finding the best closing trip, in the Alphabet Soup, there was never a question of navigation when Fierce and Strong broke sharpest out of the gate. By the time the field of 10 was around the first turn, the gelding was already three lengths clear.

It would flatter Conner to say that he was nursing the front-runner along, but the truth is that Fierce and Strong was flying. After completing the opening quarter-mile in 22.26, he extended his lead to 5 1/2 lengths on the backstretch through a half-mile in 45.26. The early fractions had trainer Michael Salvaggio Jr. sweating.

“I don’t know if that was in our plans to go that far out in front in the lead, but this horse is so headstrong,” Salvaggio said. “It’s better to do that than to fight him. I sort of knew this morning, the way he was acting, that we were going to end up on the lead.”

The field slowly began to creep toward the loose front-runner, but with 2-5 favorite Eff Thirty Five more than 15 lengths behind, none of the closers were nearly close enough when Fierce and Strong entered the stretch with a 3 1/2-length lead.

Dylan’s Ruby, a 30-1 longshot trained by John Servis, had tracked the leader in second throughout the race and was the only one with a chance in the stretch. When Fierce and Strong finally hit a wall in the final furlong, it looked like he was standing still as Dylan’s Ruby rapidly began making up ground.

Conner did everything he could to urge his exhausted gelding forward, desperate for the wire. He would not have lasted another stride, but in a tight photo finish, Fierce and Strong prevailed by a nose, successfully stealing the 1 1/16-mile race in 1:41.29. He paid $8.20 to win.

Undefeated in two starts this year, Salvaggio’s gelding won his 5-year-old debut in a five-furlong sprint at Pimlico, closing from seventh in another big day for Conner. His gate-to-wire victory at Penn National on Friday was vastly different, a testament to his versatility. He has now won 6 of 8 starts on his home course in Grantville.

After notching an allowance victory in the second race, Conner won three of the first four on Friday, stealing the show early on a stacked Penn National card.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Tom Morley and jockey Javier Castellano met early Thursday morning to go over a game plan for how to approach the Grade 3 Poker Stakes at Saratoga with their horse Donegal Momentum.

Later in the morning, after scratches came out – and Filo Di Arianna was withdrawn – Morley called Castellano to discuss a new plan.

“Go to the lead, dictate the pace, you got the speed in the race,” Castellano said Morley told him. “I think you can go wire to wire.”

And that’s basically what he did.

Able to clear the field rather easily going into the first turn of the one-mile race, Donegal Momentum took his six rivals on a futile chase around Saratoga’s inner turf course to record a front-running, 1 3/4-length victory in the $300,000 Poker. Intellect, the 5-2 favorite, who was well back and needed more pace than was provided, rallied for second, three-quarters of a length over Major Dude.

Cameo Performance finished fourth and was followed by Depiction, Sherlock’s Jewel, and Mischievous Angel.

Filo Di Arianna was scratched by trainer Mark Casse, because he “wasn’t 100 percent this morning,” said Casse, who believes the horse might have kicked the stall.

“When Mark came out this morning it changed the dynamics of the race enormously,” Morley said. “When Mark was in the race I thought we were probably going to end up sitting second and then you’re in the difficult position of letting a horse who’s a good horse have the lead.”

Castellano didn’t have to send Donegal Momentum hard to make the lead. Instead, Castellano was able to gradually maneuver him from his outside draw to make a one-length lead through a quarter in 24.34 seconds and a half-mile in 48.09.

Donegal Momentum was still clear through six furlongs in 1:11.53 and had plenty left to kick on through the lane, not giving any of his pursuers a chance. Donegal Momentum, a 4-year-old son of Uncle Mo owned by Donegal Racing, covered the mile over firm ground in 1:34.22 and returned $8.60 as the third choice.

“When he came out it made it a lot easier for us that we had the fastest horse in the race,” Morley said. “There were a couple of horses that probably needed a strong gallop. This horse is exceptionally fast. When he quickens, he really does quicken.”

It was the first graded stakes win for Donegal Momentum, who improved his record to 5 for 10, including a win in the listed Gio Ponti last October at Aqueduct. Morley will look to keep Donegal Momentum racing one mile on firm ground with Saratoga races like the Grade 3, $175,000 Kelso on July 5 and the Grade 1, $750,000 Fourstardave on Aug. 2 as candidates for his next start.

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