Saratoga day after: Brown, Ortiz, Cox offer updates on winners

Klaravich Stables’ Idea Generation earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily Racing Form, for her first victory against winners Saturday in the Grade 2, $500,000 Flower Bowl, a 1 3/8-mile inner-turf test for older fillies and mares at Saratoga.

Brightwork got an 89 Beyer for her victory Saturday in the $200,000 Prioress (G3), and Immersive was graded with an 84 for her win in the $300,000 Spinaway (G1).

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Trainer Chad Brown expressed his pride in the effort from Idea Generation, who Florent Géroux rode to a 1 1/2-length win in the Flower Bowl with a time of 2:18.97. He also was happy about McKulick, who finished third.

“She came out of it good,” Brown said about Idea Generation. “I was pretty comfortable. She was going pretty easily out there, and the longer the race went on, I was feeling like she had a chance to wire them. I thought McKulick still had a good chance. She was moving up good on the turn, but Idea Generation just had another gear. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with either one of them yet.”

The Flower Bowl was the 12th graded stakes win at the Saratoga meet for Brown, who has clinched his seventh training title at the Spa with two days left in the 39-day meet. Among those graded wins was Thursday’s 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 With Anticipation with recent European import Zulu Kingdom, who prevailed by a neck over Tenacious Leader.

Brown said the juvenile son of Ten Sovereigns, owned by Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, William Strauss and Michael Caruso, will be pointed to the 1 1/16-mile, $200,000 Pilgrim (G2) on Sept. 28 at Belmont at the Big A, a win-and-you’re-in qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

“He’s been a horse who trained really good, looked around a lot,” Brown said. “I thought he may have needed a race to sort of get his sense about him in America, but man, he was more mentally prepared than I expected. I was very pleased with that.”

Bred in Ireland by Écurie Peregrine, Zulu Kingdom is 2-for-2 after graduating on debut June 4 at Saint-Cloud, France, when she was in the care of conditioner André Fabre. Out of the Smart Strike mare Zindziswa, he is a half-brother to France stakes winner Zulu Warrior.

Brightwork is highlight of John Ortiz’s summer

Trainer John Ortiz has enjoyed a tremendous Saratoga summer meet, posting an 11: 6-1-1 record topped by a winning return from Grade 1 winner Brightwork in the Prioress.

“It’s always great to come to Saratoga,” Ortiz said. “It's one of the biggest stages in the world, and it’s a place where you want to be seen and recognized to be doing well at. Having success at Saratoga is something you want on your résumé, but when you crush the meet like we did this year, it speaks volumes about our team.”

Brightwork returned from a nearly 10-month layoff to go in the Prioress, a six-furlong sprint for 2-year-old fillies. With Luis Sáez riding, she prevailed by a neck with a time of 1:10.86. The winning effort matched a career-best 89 Beyer.

“She just proved us right that she’s an athlete,” Ortiz said. “She looked so tired coming down the stretch, and (runner-up) Two Sharp was so game with her, and they had a really good horse race. But you could just see the class and the heart that she has for this game. She loves it. She starts nickering any time you put the saddle on for training. She loves her job, and she definitely proved it yesterday.”

In victory, the Outwork bay remained undefeated in five sprint starts and is also undefeated in three Saratoga efforts, taking the Adirondack (G3) and Spinaway (G1) at Saratoga last year.

Ortiz said that, all being well, Brightwork will point to the seven-furlong Raven Run (G2) on Oct. 19 at Keeneland.

“We’ll let her tell us where to go next,” Ortiz said. “This is the biggest effort I’ve seen her lay out in the afternoon. She was running against 3-year-olds that have been running, and I want to make sure she comes out of it in good shape and has enough time to recover.”

Among the impressive list of 2-year-old maiden winners this meet for Ortiz were Shortleaf Stable’s Kentucky homebred Quietside and Four G Racing’s Reining Flowers, both of whom made their stakes debuts during the past week.

Quietside, by Malibu Moon out of Grade 2-winning Speightstown mare Benner Island, romped by 6 1/4 lengths at first asking in a six-furlong sprint Aug. 4 at Saratoga. She returned to action in Saturday’s seven-furlong Spinaway (G1), settling for second and landing 1 1/4 lengths behind rallying Immersive.

“She came out of the race in great form, bright-eyed,” Ortiz said. “She ate up her dinner last night, and she jogged up sound for us this morning. We’re super happy with the winning effort she put out there. Getting caught at the wire is just part of horse racing.”

Ortiz said Quietside is likely to go to the 1 1/16-mile Alcibiades (G1) on Oct. 4 at Keeneland.

“We think she’ll like the two turns in the long term,” Ortiz said.

The Gasaway family’s Four G Racing has enjoyed a tremendous 2024 season as the co-breeders and co-owners of Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan for trainer Kenny McPeek.

It also campaigns Kentucky homebred Reining Flowers, a daughter of Midnight Storm who graduated at third asking in a 1 1/16-mile turf route on July 28 at Saratoga. She is a half-sister to Ortiz-trained, graded-stakes-placed Crown Imperial. Both fillies are out of winning Congrats mare Mi Fiori, a half-sister to 2019 Poker (G3) winner Gucci Factor.

Reining Flowers made her stakes debut in Wednesday’s listed P.G. Johnson, recovering from a poor start to finish third, just three-quarters of a length behind victorious Totally Justified.

“The Gasaways have done a good job with their homebreds this year,” Ortiz said. “That filly is just like her sister. They’re small fillies, but they have a huge stride and cover a lot of ground. They have a big turn of foot. We did lose a little momentum early into the race, but Luis kept his composure, and knowing the filly has a big turn of foot, he tried to make a move at the right time, and we were just a little short. That's another filly that ran a winning effort.”

Immersive gets career-best 84 in Spinaway

Godolphin’s Kentucky homebred Immersive stalked and pounced to a 1 1/4-length victory in Saturday’s muddy $300,000 Spinaway (G1), running the seven furlongs for 2-year-old fillies in 1:25.31. She recorded a career-best 84 Beyer, a marked improvement from a first-out 68.

“She showed she has a tremendous amount of class to overcome the 1 hole. Manny (Franco) did a good job of putting her in a good position of tracking the frontrunners,” Cox said. “Then she was able to show her stamina and class late to get by a very good filly (Quietside) inside the final sixteenth. She had a big gallop-out, and I’m looking forward to getting her around two turns.”

Cox said Immersive’s target will be the Alcibiades.

“She looked good. We expected her to run big and she did. We always thought she showed the potential to stretch out. She got the seven-eighths, and she should handle two turns. We will ship her back to Kentucky on Monday and zero in on the Alcibiades and go from there,” Cox said.

Also victorious for Cox on Saturday at the Spa was Siena Farm and WinStar Farm’s Federal Judge. The 4-year-old Army Mule gelding earned a 95 Beyer when winning a 6 1/2-furlong optional claimer by six lengths over multiple graded-stakes-placed Accretive. The effort was his second start off more than a one-year layoff.

Cox said Federal Judge could be seen on the same Keeneland card as Immersive and go in the $350,000 Phoenix (G2), a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up. 

“It was a big run, second race off a lengthy layoff, and he ran big,” Cox said. “We are looking forward to letting him kind of chill out. He will ship to Kentucky, and we will go from there.”

Cox’s success at the Spa wasn’t limited to Saturday. West Hollywood captured the Saranac (G3), a 1 1/16-mile turf test for 3-year-olds Friday. He assumed the lead when pacesetting The Big Torpedo sustained what proved to be a fatal injury to his left-front leg in the stretch run. The incident caused Cox trainee Take Me To Church to alter course, unseating Hall of Famer Javier Castellano.

“(West Hollywood) is good. He came out in good order,” Cox said. “We will ship south tomorrow, and the colt that went down (Take Me To Church) came out as good as you could considering the circumstances. He’s scratched up a little bit, but overall I’m pretty happy with how he came out of it.”

Cox said no spots have been determined for either horse yet, but the $600,000 Bryan Station (G3) on Oct. 26 at Keeneland is under strong consideration, because the race is contested at one-mile for sophomores.

Army Officer was on Sunday’s Oklahoma training turf tab. He breezed a solo half-mile in 48.2 seconds, according to New York Racing Association clockers. The Not This Time dark bay last ran seventh in the one-mile National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (G2) on Aug. 2 at Saratoga.

Army Officer has been pointed to the $1.5 million Gun Runner, a one-mile test for 3-year-olds next Sunday at Kentucky Downs.

“He breezed well today,” Cox said. “We will ship him down tomorrow.”