Travers 2022: Ain't Life Grand's connections think he belongs

Iowa is home to baseball's Field of Dreams and to the smallest of Thoroughbred breeders who dare to dream.

Peggy and Ray Shattuck will take the shot of a lifetime by entering Ain't Life Grand, their homebred Iowa Derby winner, in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes Saturday at Saratoga.

Ray Shattuck watched 80-1 Rich Strike defy the odds by producing one of the great upsets in Kentucky Derby history. He has seen the finest 3-year-olds take turns knocking one another off this spring and summer. He believes it might be his colt’s turn to accomplish the unthinkable while hiking the value of unraced Cat Moves, the couple’s lone broodmare, by Medaglia d’Oro.

"I just think our horse, once he goes a mile-and-a-quarter, can be equal to them. I think there is a vulnerability with each and every one of those horses," Ray Shattuck said of the 3-year-old division. "Like I say, they've all been beating up on each other. We’ve got a nice, fresh horse.

"What really made up my mind is there is no one that sticks out as being much better than the rest of them."

Veteran trainer Kelly Von Hemel, hungry for his first success above the Grade 3 level, agrees with Shattuck’s thinking.

"I'm on board 100 percent," he said. "We talked about this not only amongst ourselves but with some other people we respect and came up with the decision. Everybody is on board."

As if to assert that he belongs, Ain’t Life Grand blazed four furlongs in a bullet 45.88 seconds on Saturday at Saratoga, fastest of 80 at the distance. He had traveled four furlongs in 48.23 seconds the week before, ranking 13th of 88. He arrived at the upstate New York track on Aug. 7.

Shattuck, 73, has overseen a small breeding operation in Des Moines since 1986. He said that his thinking was "absolutely" influenced by Rich Strike’s emergence, adding that the Derby was "kind of a meltdown race."

The Travers is not likely to be a meltdown contest with a talent-laden field expected to include Derby and Preakness runner-up Epicenter, two-time Grade 1 winner Cyberknife, Preakness victor Early Voting and, not to be forgotten, Rich Strike.

Ain’t Life Grand will be ridden in the mid-summer derby by Tyler Gaffalione. The dark bay son of Not This Time will attempt a 1 1/4 miles for the first time. The classic distance is the least of Von Hemel’s worries.

"He’s a true mile-and-an-eighth, mile-and-a-quarter horse, and that’s hard to come by any more," Von Hemel said. "The fact that we can think he can run that far is definitely one of the reasons why we decided to take a shot."

Ain't Life Grand owns five wins and a pair of third-place results in eight lifetime starts for earnings of $399,833. In his only venture beyond Iowa, he took fourth in the listed Bachelor Stakes on April 30 at Oaklawn Park.

According to Von Hemel, the decision was made last autumn to skip the Triple Crown trail with the hope of having a better horse later in his 3-year-old season.

"That’s a tough trail. It takes a strong horse to get through that," he said. "We took our time and pointed him toward the Iowa Derby, which he won, and figured if he was the caliber to win a Grade 2 or Grade 1, we'd have plenty of time to get that done this summer and fall. We've got to find out if he can win at this level."

Ain’t Life Grand has nothing left to prove in his home state. He coasted by seven lengths in the one-mile, 70-yard Iowa Stallion Stakes on July 23 at Prairie Meadows, his fourth outing this season.

If he cannot win, the connections hope the Iowa flagbearer can nab a piece of the pie. "If we would happen to run in the top three, I'd be ecstatic," said Shattuck, who runs under the RPM Thoroughbreds banner. "It would be wonderful for him and also the broodmare, which I also own. That is the kind of thing we're looking to do. Obviously, we want to win. But if we happen to be in the top three, I'd be celebrating that day also."

The Iowa Derby represented Shattuck's greatest success. Although Von Hemel has not won above the Grade 3 level, he knows what it takes to compete against the best. He oversaw Miss Macy Sue when she came in third in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Monmouth Park.

Von Hemel knows there are legitimate questions surrounding his horse. He has trained on his own since 1985 and does not doubt his ability.

"We know we can train horses. We know we can do it all. But this is the first opportunity we've had, and we're excited about it," he said, understanding it is a long way from Iowa to Saratoga’s grand stage.