Bal Harbour gets his Grade 1 shot in the Woodward Stakes

Bal Harbour will make the leap from Grade 3 company to the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga, joining the prospective field for the Spa’s final major race for older horses on the dirt.

Rick Sacco, racing manager for the Red Oak Stable homebred, said Bal Harbour shipped from trainer Todd Pletcher’s Monmouth Park barn to Saratoga on Sunday and “has settled in well.”

Connections originally considered going from a narrow second in the July 20 Monmouth Cup (G3) to Del Mar’s TVG Pacific Classic (G1) contested back on Aug. 17.

“It was just a little too close to make the Pacific Classic,” Sacco said. “We really, really evaluated this horse after his last race in the Monmouth Cup, where we thought he handled the mile and an eighth beautifully. He came out of that race well and has had three really good breezes.”

In addition to shipping across the country, Bal Harbour would have stretched to 1 1/4 miles in the Pacific Classic. In hindsight, staying home appeared to be the right move, as the strong east coast contingent that traveled failed to perform at Del Mar, with fourth-place Tenfold the highest finisher of the group.

The Woodward runs at the same 1 1/8 miles as the Monmouth Cup, in which War Story beat Bal Harbour by a head. It was another 12 lengths back to third-place Coal Front in the Haskell Invitational (G1) undercard race.

“He earned a shot by as fast as he’s run — 101 Beyer, a 4 on the sheets — and then he got progressively better over the summer as we kept increasing his distances,” Sacco said. “He’s the kind of horse that’s taken us really until his 4-year-old year to figure him out mentally.”

A son of First Samurai, Bal Harbour was gelded late last season, then returned to win back-to-back races, including Aqueduct’s Gio Ponti Stakes. This year, his finishes have improved as the races went longer. Prior to the nine-furlong Monmouth Cup, he was also second June 22 going 1 1/16 miles in the Philip J. Iselin (G3), also at Monmouth Park.

Javier Castellano — who’s 2-for-2 aboard Bal Harbour — has the call in the Woodward, which draws Wednesday and will be headlined by 2018 winner Yoshida, Preservationist and potentially Vino Rosso, a Pletcher stablemate who won a Grade 1 earlier this year.

“He’s the kind of horse you need to know a little bit,” Sacco said of Bal Harbour. “(Joe) Bravo, he kind of figures him out and had a couple of nice heats down here (at Monmouth Park). But we probably could have run a couple of races this summer and earned his way, where you win these Grade 3s and you’re supposed to graduate and go to a Grade 1 when you’re doing well.

“But I’m a firm believe in when a horse is really doing well — and this horse is — that this just seemed like the right time to do this. We didn’t want to wait.”

Sacco expects Bal Harbour to take up a “stalking position” before making his move, similar to how he made a three-wide bid to get the lead in the Monmouth Cup. War Story just tracked him down to win it.

“Even in defeat,” Sacco said, “he gallops out strongly. He’s definitely a horse that’s still figuring things out.”