Saratoga Picks | Bowling Green Stakes 2024

Godolphin’s Silver Knott will look to run his win streak to three in Sunday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green, an 11-furlong inner turf test for older horses, at Saratoga Race Course.

The Bowling Green is slated as Race 9 on Sunday’s 10-race card. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.  

The 4-year-old Lope de Vega gelding is trained by Charlie Appleby, who boasts a 28-9-7-6 record in the U.S. this year led by Grade 1 wins with Cinderella’s Dream [Belmont Oaks Invitational], Measured Time [Manhattan], and Master of The Seas [Maker’s Mark Mile].

Silver Knott enters from a pair of Grade 2 wins stateside, taking the 12-furlong Elkhorn in April at Keeneland ahead of a decisive score last out in the 11-furlong Man o’ War at Belmont at the Big A when 4 1/2-lengths better than returning rival Ohana Honor. The winning effort garnered a career and field-best 106 Beyer Speed Figure.

Flavien Prat, who leads the Spa meet with 12 wins heading into Wednesday’s action, was aboard for both those scores and retains the mount Sunday from post 2 aboard Silver Knott [124 pounds].

“He’s a pretty straightforward horse and you can put him pretty much wherever you want. Last time, we had some pace, so we got him covered up and he showed a good turn-of-foot to win,” said Prat, who already has five stakes wins at the meet topped by a Grade 1 score with Whitebeam in the Diana.

Prat said Silver Knott has responded well to stretching out in distance for his 4-year-old campaign.

“Ever since he’s been running in these long-distance races, he’s found a new dimension,” Prat said.

Silver Knott was winless in six sophomore starts although he picked up a Grade 1-placing when a frontrunning third in the nine-furlong Hollywood Derby in December at Del Mar.

A dual Group 3 winner as a juvenile, Silver Knott captured the seven-furlong Solario at Sandown Park and the one-mile Autumn at Newmarket. Bred in Great Britain by St Albans Bloodstock, Silver Knott is the first progeny out of the Group 1-winning Nathaniel mare God Given – a half-sister to four-time Group 1-winning multimillionaire Postponed.

Ohana Honor [post 1, Kendrick Carmouche, 118 pounds] will look to turn the tables on Silver Knott as he searches for his first graded win in his third attempt.

Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey for owners West Point Thoroughbreds, Woodford Racing, Edward H. Hudson, Jr. and Lynne Hudson, the 4-year-old Honor Code ridgling boasts a perfect in-the-money record of 4-1-1-2 this year.

Ohana Honor was a frontrunning winner of a 12-furlong allowance in April at Keeneland when running a marathon distance on turf for the first time. He followed with a stalking second to Silver Knott in the Man o’ War, saving ground before tipping out and making a late run to earn place honors by a neck over multiple Grade/Group1-winner Nations Pride.

Last out, the $430,000 purchase from the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale dead-heated for third with Far Bridge in the 1 3/16-mile Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Manhattan here when 2 1/4-lengths back of the victorious Measured Time.

Jason Blewitt, Executive Vice President of West Point Thoroughbreds, said Ohana Honor has shown marked improvement as a 4-year-old.

“It’s been a lot of fun seeing Shug and his team figure Ohana out and seeing the results,” Blewitt said. “He couldn’t look any better physically, and I think he’s the classic Shug archetype. You’ve got a well-bred horse who was OK at 2, OK at 3, but now as a 4-year-old is just really coming into his own.

“I thought he ran big in the Man o’ War and he ran even better in the Manhattan,” added Blewitt. “To have a horse hit the board there in such a competitive field, that was the best group of horses on the turf since the Breeders’ Cup. He ran great and I’m in the mindset that he’s going to keep raising the game up a notch.”

Ohana Honor, out of the graded stakes-winning Awesome Again mare Spacy Tracy, is a half-brother to dual Grade 3-winner Victim of Love, Grade 2-winner Benner Island, multiple graded stakes-placed High North.

The ultra-consistent Soldier Rising [post 5, Jose Ortiz, 118 pounds] will look to make the grade in his 13th attempt, having picked up six Grade 1-placings through a 21-4-10-3 record and purse earnings in excess of $1.3 million.

Trained by Christophe Clement for Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, Morris Bailey, Wonder Stables and Michael J. Caruso, the 6-year-old Frankel gelding returns from an eight-month layoff. He was last seen closing from last-of-11 to finish second, by a neck, to Master Piece in the 11-furlong Grade 2 Red Smith on November 11 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Soldier Rising has done much of his best running on the Spa turf, including a second in the 2021 Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational and a close third in the 2022 Grade 1 Sword Dancer. He was a troubled seventh in this event last year when bumped and checked hard by Rebel’s Romance, who clipped heels and lost his rider.

Soldier Rising, out of the winning Pivotal mare Sahrawi, has trained steadily over the Oklahoma training turf for his return, including a half-mile breeze in 47.40 seconds July 19 under Jose Ortiz.

“He worked very good,” Ortiz said after the breeze. “I was getting on him last year and I felt like he came back this year in great shape.”

Gary Barber and Kinsman Stable’s graded stakes-placed Strong Quality [post 6, Irad Ortiz, Jr., 122 pounds] will stretch out considerably for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse.

The 5-year-old Quality Road dark bay has posted frontrunning wins on turf and dirt this year, taking the 1 1/16-mile Listed Colonel Bradley in January over the Fair Grounds green along with a hard-fought score in the one-mile Listed Knicks Go, a restricted dirt stakes on the Kentucky Derby undercard in May at Churchill Downs.

Last out, Strong Quality was no match for the talented Measured Time in the Manhattan, dueling with the Appleby-trainee through six-furlongs before fading to last-of-8.

Strong Quality has breezed back twice, including a five-eighths effort in company in 1:00.04 July 17 over the Spa main track. Casse said he is hopeful the versatile horse will meter his speed accordingly.

“Of course, that’s what we thought last time, and the Appleby horse went head-and-head with us and was a much better horse than we were,” Casse said. “I think he’s doing better right now. He went into that race OK, and I think he’s doing great right now.”

Casse won seven races across the continent Saturday, including a win here with Pounce in the Grade 3 Lake George and is tied for second in the Spa trainer standings with six wins heading into Wednesday’s action.

He praised Strong Quality’s tenacity – a three-time turf winner and two-time dirt winner – for having won at distances as short as 7 1/2-furlongs while placing in races as long as 10 furlongs.

“He’s just a talented horse. There’s not a lot of horses like him,” Casse said. “War of Will was a bit like that – he could do either surface or any distance. He’s just an inch from being a really good horse.

“He’s had some issues,” added Casse. “He quarter-cracks on us some, so he hasn’t had the healthiest foot. Right now, it’s really good.”

Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher’s Sugoi [post 3, Julien Leparoux, 122 pounds] has rose from claim-to-fame this year for trainer Mike Maker.

The 7-year-old Karakontie gelding has been claimed five times since March 2023, including for $25,000 out of a winning effort in February at Turfway Park that launched a four-race win streak. He was taken by current connections for $50,000 out of a claiming win on the main track in April at Keeneland and subsequently posted a frontrunning win in the 12-furlong Grade 3 Louisville over firm Churchill Downs turf.

Last out, he attended the pace in the 11-furlong Chorleywood on June 15 over firm Churchill green but could not hold off the late charge of graded stakes-winner Webslinger.

A talented group at Saratoga also includes:

• Multiple graded stakes-placed Ontario-bred English Conqueror [post 4, Jose Lezcano, 118 pounds], last-out winner of a 1 3/16-mile optional-claimer in course record time at Belmont at the Big A for trainer Darwin Banach
• Multiple graded stakes-placed Strong Tide [post 7, Luis Saez, 118 pounds] for trainer and co-owner Michael Lauer