Sailmate Gets Class, Stamina Test at Spa
Sailmate, unbeaten in a pair of sprints
at Belmont in 2012, will step up in class and stretch out in distance
for the $100,000 Evan Shipman for New York-breds on July 23 at Saratoga
Race Course, trainer John Kimmel said on Friday.
A 4-year-old son of Friends Lake,
Sailmate won a second-level optional claimer for New York-breds by
three-quarters of a length on May 26, then closed from seventh against
open company to take an entry-level allowance by a nose on June 23.
“The horse really hasn’t done anything
wrong,” said Kimmel, who trains the colt for Sugar Maple Farm. “I think
he’ll enjoy the trip going a mile and an eighth [in the Shipman]. It’s
just a matter of who he’s running against and if he’s good enough.”
Sailmate has made one previous stakes
start, finishing fourth against state-bred 3-year-olds in Saratoga’s
Albany, his 2011 finale.
“He was nursing a sore shin, and after the race he had shown a radiographic crack,” said Kimmel. “That’s why he got the time off. He didn’t run that badly, but he’s a much sounder, better horse now than he was back then.”