Eclipse to Close Out Saratoga & Del Mar Strong
The baby blue and black silks of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners will be proudly on display this weekend at Saratoga Race Course.
Capo Bastone will run Saturday, August 30, in the $500,000 Grade 1 Forego Stakes. This race will be run at the distance and over the surface Capo Bastone enjoyed his finest moment. Everyone remembers, of course, Capo Bastone dropping over fifteen lengths back during the opening half-mile before flying through the stretch to win the $500,000 Grade 1 King’s Bishop at Saratoga by 2 ½ lengths last summer. While this four-year-old son of Street Boss has not replicated that effort, he acts like a colt ready to return to his best form.
Capo Bastone has accumulated $694,756 in career earnings. Along with his victory in the King’s Bishop, Capo Bastone finished second in the Grade 3 Derby Trial as a three-year-old at Churchill Downs. At two, he finished third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the Grade 1 Frontrunner Stakes both at Santa Anita.
Trained by future Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, Capo Bastone will be ridden by Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez. The Forego will go as the tenth race at 6:14 p.m.
Curalina, a two-year-old daughter of Curlin, will run Sunday at Saratoga in the $350,000 Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes. In her career debut at Saratoga on July 27, Curalina was crowded and bumped solidly at the start. While showing her inexperience early on, Curalina finished very strongly beaten a quickly diminishing length and a quarter going six furlongs. She has had several outstanding breezes leading up to this spot and she indicates she will thrive over the seven furlongs. Also trained by Todd Pletcher, Curalina will be ridden by the meet leading jockey Javier Castellano. This is an excellent opportunity for this filly to attain black-type status in a Grade 1 stakes. The Spinaway will be run as the tenth race at 5:47 p.m.
Another two-year-old Eclipse color-bearing filly, Feathered, will run Sunday at Saratoga. Feathered finished second in her career debut there on August 3. This daughter of Indian Charlie was beaten only a head after losing focus for just a moment after taking the lead in mid-stretch. Feathered was caught off-guard by a fast closing filly on her inside. This race for maiden two-year-old fillies will cover seven furlongs. She is also trained by Todd Pletcher and will be ridden by Javier Castellano at 4:11 p.m.
On Sunday, Quint (IRE), a two-year-old daughter of Footstepsinthesand, will make her United States debut in the first race at Del Mar. Quint finished second in May at Southwell in the UK. After a very slow start, Quint came flying through the lane to just miss over the all weather surface. She was soon thereafter purchased by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and placed under the care of Simon Callaghan in California. She has been prepared for this race over the synthetic surface at Del Mar and will be ridden by Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Victor Espinoza. This maiden test for two-year-old fillies will run at 2:00 PDT.
BELIEVE BIG!!