DREAM RUSH PASSES TEST
SARATOGA SPRINGS – Eleven other 3-year-old fillies lined up to test 6-5 favorite Dream Rush in yesterday’s 82nd running of the Grade 1, $250,000 Test Stakes at the Old Spa. They did so in vain. Seconds after the gates opened, Dream Rush scooted to the front under Eibar Coa, opened daylight down the backside, and the race was, for all practical purposes, over.
“It worked out perfectly,” Coa said. “When we broke in front and nobody went, we took the lead easily.”
Loose on the lead, Dream Rush skipped through a first quarter-mile in a relaxed 22.1 seconds, turned up the heat through a half in 44.2 and was never threatened to the wire, winning by two lengths in 1:22.2 for seven furlongs to pay $4.50.
“I said, ‘Wow, how sweet it that!’ [after seeing the 22.1 posted],” said Rick Violette, Dream Rush’s trainer. “The first quarter-mile might have been the whole key. She broke sharp and just dragged [Coa] there.
“Obviously, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint [Oct. 26 at Monmouth Park] is the ultimate goal.”
Boca Grande, 30-1, closed with a rush under Julien Leparoux to catch Baroness Thatcher a stride before the wire, completing a $124 exacta. The trifecta came back a whopping $757.
Is there a more honest, harder-knocking horse out there than Teuflesberg? In yesterday’s third race, the $80,000 overnight Glow Stakes at a mile over the inner course, Jamie Sanders’ tough little son of Johannesburg tried turf for the first time, making his 19th start. That’s more than most good horses nowadays race in their entire careers; and remember, Teuflesberg is still a 3-year-old.
In two starts since he pressed the pace and faded badly to finish 17th in the Kentucky Derby – an effort that would have knocked many a lesser horse out for the year – Teuflesberg won the Woody Stephens at Belmont Park and was second in the Carry Back at Calder. He was using yesterday’s race as a prep for the King’s Bishop on Travers Day, Aug. 25. After dueling for the lead most of the way under Edgar Prado, Teuflesberg took the lead in mid-stretch, couldn’t withstand the sudden late charge of Pays to Dream, but dug in to hold second.
*
Silver Tree, the favorite of today’s Grade 2, $150,000 Fourstardave on turf, is the answer to a trivia question: Name the last horse Jerry Bailey ever rode? The race was the Sunshine Millions Turf back in January 2006, and Silver Tree, saddled by Bailey’s old ally Bill Mott, was favored at 4-5 to send Jerry home a winner.
Ironically, the fairytale ended with a twist when Miesque’s Approval, a horse once trained by Mott and ridden by Bailey, beat Silver Three by less than a length.
Still going strong at 7, coming off two straight wins, Silver Tree has a history of excellence over the Spa turf. In 2004, he won the Bernard Baruch and was second in the Fourstardave. In Bill Mott, he has the leading trainer at the meet; his jockey, Kent Desormeaux, is battling early for the riding title.
Brilliant, trained by Neil Howard, is the morning-line favorite coming off runner-up finishes in the Grade 1 Turf Classic and Grade 2 Firecracker, both on turf at Churchill Downs.
Look for Giant Basil to run a big one for Bobby Frankel. Coming off a 10-month layoff, he’s run twice this year, winning by a nose and losing by a head.
