Tropical Storm Debby disrupted the schedule for Saratoga last weekend, with 11 races off the turf – but the key races were able to go ahead on the turf on Sunday, as Steve Dennis reports in his latest update.

“If you don’t succeed the first time” is such well-known and proven advice that it hardly needs finishing. Apparently it has something to do with trying.

That was the attitude that Chad Brown took to the Fourstardave, the G1 highlight of the week at Saratoga: He persevered despite seemingly endless frustration, but always came back for more.

Before Carl Spackler started the twice-postponed edition of the mile race on Sunday, Brown’s record in the race was peppered with five second places and no wins. At the finish, the long wait was over.

“It feels good,” said Brown, who is considered the best turf trainer in the United States. “It’s the perfect time for it, my family and my parents are here; they took me to the track as a kid and we always bet on Fourstardave himself.”

Considering that the horse became known as the “Sultan of Saratoga” for winning at least one race at the track for eight consecutive years from 1987 to 1994, it’s safe to assume that the Brown clan cashed in on a few occasions.

Brown was keen to win this race, as he indicated by saying: “I’ve never won it because it’s a difficult race. That makes it all the more special. It’s a big challenge to win this race.”

Brown was looking to fill an open spot as he now has only the Belmont Derby missing from his roll of honour of G1 victories on turf in New York, and he will no doubt be eager to complete his list.

Carl Spackler, on the other hand, was just about to experience his breakthrough at the highest level, even if his rise always seemed to be only a matter of time, especially at Spa, where he now has a record of four wins out of five.

“He looked like a horse sitting on a big number,” Brown added. “He was capable of doing it. He had toyed with the idea of ​​running a monster number before. I really felt like today was going to be his day, and it was.”

It was also a big day for Jockey Tyler Gaffalionethe son-in-law of owner Bob Edwards, capped off a fantastic week in which he produced ten winners over the four days of racing (Friday was a disappointment).

“To cap it all off with a win like this and celebrate with the family is incredible,” he said. “This is why we do this, this is where we want to be and to achieve these things is truly incredible.”

Carl Spackler has always had a special aura because of his name, which he shares with Bill Murray’s character in the hilarious golf movie. Caddyshacka cult classic and an inexhaustible source of quotable lines for his fans.

The other Carl Spackler is a chaotic individual, a greenkeeper whose sole aim in life is to rid his golf course of pocket gophers. While pursuing this endeavour, he dreams of being a professional golfer and winning the US Masters, which he lovingly describes as “a true Cinderella fairytale”.

Edwards eagerly seized on this, no doubt waiting impatiently for the perfect moment to quote the line. “He’s no longer a Cinderella fairytale,” he said. “He got that ground squirrel.”

He certainly has. The main target for Carl Spackler now is the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar in November. Brown has won that race before (varsity, 2019) and Edwards has three Breeders’ Cup wins, including two with the brilliant Rushing Fall.

They have done it many times with many horses, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t try again.

Good Karma (1): Carson’s Run

Saratoga Derby winner Carson’s Run has become a fan favorite. According to the NYRA media team, the Christophe Clement-trained colt was named in honor of Carson Jost, who was born with the rare genetic disorder Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome.

Carson is the son of Wade Jost, a former classmate of West Point Thoroughbreds founder Terry Finley at the United States Military Academy.

“When things go like this, there’s a sweetness to this business that you can’t compare to anything else in life,” an emotional Finley said after Carson’s Run beat even-odds favorite Legend Of Time to win the $600,000 event, which had been postponed 24 hours to Sunday because of the storm.

To increase the undisputed feel-good factor, this was also the first US G1 success for jockey Danielle Davis“This meant a lot to me,” said the rider. “First Grade 1 in New York, in the States and in my hometown of Saratoga. It’s incredible.”

Good Karma (2): Wayne Potts

He has won just one graded stakes in 18 years with a license, but at least he has won it twice now. Wayne Potts’ affinity for the G2 Troy (automatically downgraded to G3 after leaving the turf) continued with the win of surveillancewho achieved a slight success in the competition on Saturday.

Potts also won the Troy in 2020 with American Sailor, but that breakthrough was bittersweet as the horse died in a barn fire at Belmont Park the following year.

“I never got to enjoy that win because I lost it in the fire, but yesterday it came back to me (on the phone),” he said. Potts got an immediate return on his investment after cleverly winning Surveillance for $62,500 in his previous start; the Troy was worth $165,000 to the winner.

We hope that the memories this time are longer and more beautiful.

Bad Karma: Lawn Racing

It was not a good week on the turf at Saratoga, as all scheduled turf racing Wednesday through Saturday was either moved to the main track or canceled entirely. Tropical Storm Debby wreaked damage and drenched the East Coast before drifting listlessly into the North Atlantic, allowing Sunday’s G1 turf racing to go ahead as planned.

It’s nobody’s fault, but moving a race from grass to dirt ruins it as a spectacle and as a betting medium. At the Troy there were eight retirements off the grass, leaving only five runners, and at the Galway there were seven, leaving only four runners in the race.

This is merely an occupational hazard for a racetrack and does not reflect positively on the sport.

One to watch: Tenacious leader

Todd Pletcher made headlines on Saturday with his impressive G2 Saratoga Special winner Shop windowbut 35 minutes earlier the trainer had completed a mile race with a stablemate, which also belongs in the notebook.

Originally scheduled to run on turf but moved to the main track, Tenacious Leader outpaced his rivals to win by 4¾ lengths. Owned by Spendthrift Farm and Mike Repole, the son of popular sire Not This Time has plenty to offer and is one to watch in the graded class this fall.

“I thought that was good,” Pletcher said. “We knew he would appreciate the stretch. It got him into a good rhythm, he finished well and we were happy.”

Quotes of the week

“I go wherever he goes – he’s an incredible horse and I know him very well and he’s capable of anything.”
Danielle Davis praises the virtues of Carson’s run after winning his first G1 victory in the USA in the Saratoga Derby

“Perfect”
Todd Pletcher liked what he saw when Travers Stakes contender Wildness ran half a mile in 49.59 seconds on Thursday morning

“We knew it would be expensive, but we didn’t think it would be this expensive”
The $3.4 million leader of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, a son of Not This Time, could become a Kentucky Derby horse for his new trainer Robert Baffert

“The range of emotions from quarter mast to wire ranged from pure depression to pure euphoria – Irad is a magician”
All feelings for Phil BauerTrainer of the Galway Stakes winner Halina’s strengthwho quickly caught up under Irad ‘Abracadabra’ Ortiz and scored a header with the final whistle

Week 5 in numbers

1 Day cancelled (Friday)

2 Victories for Chad Brown in a very quiet week for the champion, which puts him six places ahead of Mike Maker in the trainers’ table

7 Yearlings were sold for a seven-figure sum Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale

10 Victories for Tyler Gaffalionealthough he is still seven behind leader Irad Ortiz, who has 33 for the meeting

11 Racing off the pitch

12,500 It cost coach Rudy Rodriguez, Printing stand at last year’s meeting. The gelding, who won on Saturday, has since earned more than $200,000.

The file “Where are they now?”

Sometimes they come back. Aspen Grove began her career in the USA with a champagne moment when she won the G1 Belmont Oaks last year, but since that breakthrough it has been a long break from the last drink for the Justify-owned mare, who has conceded none of her five wins.

Thursday’s stunning success in an allowance race over a mile and three-eighths has finally halted the decline and trainer Jack Sisterson can now plot her way back to the top, with the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf a potential target.

Coming soon

The G1 highlight of one of the quieter weekends at the Spa is the $600,000 Alabama, although it is reminiscent of Hamlet without the prince or, more aptly, Swan Lake without the prima ballerina.

Division leader Thorpedo Anna will instead be competing against colts in the Travers, so this is an opportunity for one of her charges to take the spotlight. The field includes Candied and Intricate, second and third behind Thorpedo Anna in the CCA Oaks, and Power Squeeze, third behind (guess who?) Thorpedo Anna in the Acorn.

• Visit the NYRA Saratoga website

Week 4: Saratoga’s Olympian: Next and the loneliness of the long-distance runner

Week 3: No more excuses, because the true wildness is rising – and McPeek dares to take the plunge

Week 2: “It’s a real honour to be with a horse like her” – why everything is going smoothly for Thorpedo Anna

Week 1: In Saratoga, it’s still Chad Brown’s world… we’re just living in it!

What they think: Christina Blacker – I wish I could go back and relive Zenyatta

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