Saratoga Report #7: The Awards

Horse of the Meet: Wise Dan – Yes he only ran once, and yes it was only a Grade 2 win, but was there another horse that made a bigger impact on the meet than Wise Dan?  Let his skeptics continue to be miserable all they want about his lack of campaign, risk taking, ect…who cares!!  The horse was near death and came back as strong as ever.  Long live Wise Dan…he is the icon of horse racing!

Older Male of the Meet: Moreno – He won the Whitney which was the biggest race of the meet for his division, and then he finished a close second in the Woodward.  There is no doubt he loves Saratoga, and his success has set him up for another run in the Breeders Cup Classic.

Older Female of the Meet: Close Hatches – Simply domnated the Personal Ensign in her only start at the meet.  That race was supposed to be a showdown between Princess of Sylmar and Close Hatches, but instead Close Hatches went wire to wire leaving them all in the dust.  She now leaves Saratoga as the clear leader in her division.

3 Year Old Male of the Meet: Wicked Strong – Extremely tough decision here between Wicked Strong and V.E. Day.  I gave Wicked Strong the slight edge because he ran in the two biggest races within the division, while V.E. Day only ran in the Travers, and prepped in the Curlin Stakes.  Wicked Strong was the slimmest of margins away from sweeping the Jim Dandy and Travers.

3 Year Old Female of the Meet: Stopchargingmaria – She got fairly lucky that Untapable didn’t run at the meet, and she took advantage of a slow group.  Still she was a perfect two for two with both wines coming in the major stakes races for her division.  Easy winner.

2 Year Old Male of the Meet: Competitive Edge – His win in the Hopeful proves he is one of the best two year olds in the country.  Won both his races at the spa by multiple lengths, and looks primed for a run at the Breeders Cup.

2 Year Old Female of the Meet: Cavorting – Stamped herself as the best filly on the east coast when she won the Saranac stakes.  Only ran that one time, but that’s all she needed to do as three different filly’s won each of the stakes races within the division.

Sprinter of the Meet: Palace – Not only did he win both the big sprints at the meet, but he did it in dominating fashion!  A very cool story considering this is a New York bred horse.

Owner of the Meet: Repole Stables – “Mr. Saratoga” and “Mr. New York Racing” captured the owners title once again after losing to the Ramsey’s last year.  Love him or hate him, Repole always makes horse racing interesting and entertaining

Trainer of the Meet: Todd Pletcher – Just another trainers title for the dominant Todd Pletcher.  The scary part…this meet was considered to be a down meet for him and he still dominated the standings.

Jockey of the Meet: Javier Castellano – Much like Pletcher, this is just another title in what is becoming a workman like type effort for Castellano.  It became close between him and Irad Ortiz Jr., but Castellano was too much to overcome.

Race of the Meet: The Travers – For the THIRD straight year the Travers came down to a photo finish, and was declared to close to call by Tom Durkin.  The race didn’t have the two monster California horses in it, but it still produced great drama.