Godolphin Riding High at the Spa
Godolphin Stable won eight races – including four Grade 1 races – from 14 starts during the last year’s Saratoga meeting, and the operation appears to have carried that momentum into the 2010 stand at the Spa after Vineyard Haven won yesterday’s seven-furlong James Marvin Stakes in the slop.
“He came out of it well,” said Rick Mettee, assistant to Godolphin’s trainer Saeed Bin Suroor, of the three-time Grade 1 winner. “[Jockey] Alan [Garcia] went pretty easy on him. He seems to handle every kind of track well as he was third in the [Hill ‘n’ Dale] Cigar Mile on a fast track to Kodiak Kowboy, who was probably the best horse he faced last year.”
Mettee said Vineyard Haven will make his next start at Saratoga on August 28 in either the seven-furlong, Grade 1 Forego or the 1 1/8th-mile, Grade 1 Woodward.
“His next race will likely be the Forego, but we have thought about stretching him out at some point,” said Mettee, who noted how Vineyard Haven’s sire, Lido Palace, won four Grade 1 or Grade 2 races at 1 1/8th miles.
Godolphin’s two other leading sprinters, Gayego and Desert Party, will start in the Grade 1 Vanderbilt at Saratoga August 8, added Mettee.