Saratoga: Carl Spackler lives up to odds-on price in Saranac

Carl Spackler, trained by four-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown, backed up his 1-4 favoritism and doubled up on Saratoga graded-stakes scores by winning Friday in the 116th running of the Grade 3, $175,000 Saranac Stakes for sophomores traveling 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf.

An Ireland-bred chestnut sired by Lope de Vega and owned by Bob Edwards’s e Five Racing Thoroughbreds, Carl Spackler captured the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (G2) just three weeks ago over good going at the Spa, defeating fellow Brown trainee Appraise by 2 1/4 lengths.

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“He was traveling well within himself,” winning jockey Tyler Gaffalione said. “I just wanted to try and get him to shut off. We have bigger things down the road, so didn't want to do too much today.”

Brown, who captured his third Saranac, said he expected to see his horse on the lead given the compact field of five.

“Once we had a target, I felt pretty good. I thought we would be on the lead actually, but Tyler knows this horse so well and, with all his horses he comes well prepared,” said Brown, who saddled previous Saranac winners Public Sector in 2021 and Raging Bull in 2018. “These short fields with a short price can be tricky sometimes, and I just said, ‘Look, ride it loose, and if you go to the lead, which I expect, fine. If someone really wants to go, it’s even better,’ because with a target, it worked out perfect.”

From post 2, Carl Spackler left in good order, but Taking Candy broke sharpest of all to his inside and assumed command into the first turn. Carl Spackler was one length behind in second through an opening quarter-mile in 23.58 seconds over the good going. It was a gap of four lengths back to Lost Ark in third followed by Mendelssohns March and Yacowlef trailing the field.

Carl Spackler briefly matched strides with Taking Candy up the backside but took back to his initial, stalking position through a half-mile at 48.56 seconds.

The field grew more compact nearing the far turn with Taking Candy still controlling the tempo through three-quarters of a mile in 1:12.56 as Gaffalione lightly coaxed a loaded Carl Spackler. An all-out Taking Candy fought Carl Spackler valiantly in upper stretch, but there were no yips or shanks for the colt named for the Bill Murray character in “Caddyshack.” He strolled home an in-hand, 3 1/2-length winner at a final time of 1:42.23.

Taking Candy held second, three-quarters of a length ahead of third-place finisher Lost Ark, a half-brother to 2022 champion 3-year-old filly Nest. Mendelssohns March and Yacowlef completed the order of finish. Activist Investing, Freedom Trail, and main-track-only entrant Gilmore were scratched.

Carl Spackler boasts a 5: 3-1-0 record with his lone off-the-board effort being an eighth-place result as the lukewarm favorite in the American Turf (G2) on May 6 at Churchill Downs. A runner-up in his Jan. 21 debut at Gulfstream Park to eventual Grade 1 winner Far Bridge, Carl Spackler was a sharp, 8 3/4-length winner one month later at the same oval.

Carl Spackler utilized new tactics in the Saranac when sitting right off the pace as opposed to making up 6 1/2 lengths in the Hall of Fame with Gaffalione aboard for the first time.

“That day I wanted to be a little more forwardly placed, but we had a little hiccup out of the gate,” Gaffalione said of the Hall of Fame effort. “What I loved is that he relaxed back there and showed a real nice turn of foot that day, and that gave me confidence moving forward that I can place him wherever I need to. He's very talented.”

Brown mentioned the possibility of tackling older horses with Carl Spackler, who could make his next start Oct. 7 at Keeneland in the $1 million Coolmore Turf Mile (G1), which was won last year by Saranac victor Annapolis.

“I’m looking at what I want to do with him in early October at Keeneland, and I just thought it was too big of a gap, because we’re going to possibly go after the Coolmore Mile, which will be a tall order,” Brown said. “I wasn’t crazy about the eight weeks (off) for this horse, so I ran it by Bob (Edwards), and he said, ‘Whatever you feel is right for the conditioning and development of the horse.’ It all worked out.

“I love a little cutback into a mile in a bigger field with some pace. Again, tall order, (but) he’ll get a little bit of a weight break being a 3-year-old, and as long as he’s healthy and doing well, that’s where he’ll run.”

Bred in Ireland by Edwards’s Fifth Avenue Bloodstock, Carl Spackler is out of the Brown-trained and e Five Racing Thoroughbreds-campaigned, graded-stakes-winning More Than Ready mare Zindaya, who is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Western Aristocrat.

“It’s very rewarding, and I trained this horse’s mother for the Edwards family,” Brown said. “It was one of our first big winners together, and to see her handsome colt that she threw out here winning two stakes at the same meet at Saratoga is hard to do. I know that very well.”

Carl Spackler, who returned $2.50 for a $2 win wager, banked $96,250 in victory that enhanced his lifetime earnings to $432,250.