New Trainers Lighting Up Tote Board at Saratoga
The trainers at the top of the Saratoga Race Course leader board are perennials in that space - Todd Pletcher, Chad Brown and Hall of Famer Bill Mott.
The 150th anniversary meet that began July 19, however, has witnessed a parade of trainers winning at Saratoga for the first time.
Entering today's card, 16 different trainers had won here for the first time, topped by Rodolfo Romero, whose 3-year-old filly Galiana lit up the tote board July 21, paying $141.50 for a $2 win wager as the longest shot in a field of 12.
Galiana came back for an encore August 8 and won again for Romero in an optional claimer, paying $17.00.
For trainers who win for the first time at Saratoga, it can be a magical experience. After making just nine starts in her first two years as a trainer, Jena Antonucci came to Saratoga for the first time in 2012 with five horses and failed to win at the meet. This year, she markedly upgraded her stock and on Wednesday scored when filly Wisdom of Oz broke her maiden at odds of 27-1.
"This is obviously the hardest meet in the world," Antonucci said. "It's a special experience and a special place to visit, and obviously a place to show our work off. We weren't expecting [Wisdom of Oz] to get it done, but she broke through and got it done. She wasn't out of the clouds. She ran a great fourth for us down at Belmont. We tried her on the turf because we wanted to take a peek and she didn't like it, so we put her back on dirt. She was ready."
David Cannizzo, a former assistant to Dale Romans who also worked for Scott Lake and Bruce Levine, broke his Saratoga maiden on August 2, when Sol the Freud scored by 3 ¼ lengths in a maiden special weight race.
"It's like a weight off your back," Cannizzo said. "I had a couple tough beats earlier in the meet, and it was good to get one done. Definitely. I've got a pretty strong client base with a few owners. It helps. It gets you out there, especially here where everyone can see it happen."
On Thursday, three of the 10 races were taken by trainers winning at Saratoga for the first time - Kenyon Furlong (race 2, Con Gee, $10.40), Kathleen O'Connell (race 6, Kanturk Kid, $12) and Osvaldo Rojas (race 7, E Z Passer, $16.30).
The other first-time winners are Michael Dilger, whose Wired Bryan won the Grade 2 Sanford on July 21, Tom Morley, Danny Gargan, and Niall Saville, along with Ollie Figgins (who took the Grade 2 Honorable Miss with Dance to Bristol), Michael Wilson, Russell Cash, Andrew Mitchell, Diane Frisco, and Luis Cabrera.
"It was a very special day for us, for sure," said Dilger. "A special day. He's a very straightforward horse and we're very lucky to have such a nice horse so soon after starting. It's a dream start, you know. First runner ever at Saratoga, it's in a graded stake, first runner in a graded stake, and he wins. It's the kind of stuff you guys write about."