Work of the Day

- Sweetnorthernsaint seemed to be the consensus choice on The Works for the most impressive one of the day. He was positioned behind a workmate down the backstretch and pretty wide around the turn. He accelerated past the other horse smoothly, and Tom Amoss spoke about the way he “visibly quickened” in the stretch, as he seems to do in his races as well. He certainly looks like a horse that will get this distance, if the way he finishes is any indication. Since graduating in that 40K maiden claimer, he’s come home in 11:4/5 at six furlongs, and :24:3/5 in the slop at Laurel after a mile. Then he closed in the Gotham as they came home in :24 2/5 and :6 2/5. And then there was the :12 1/5 final furlong in the Illinois Derby.

Avalyn Hunter wrote about Sweetnorthernsaint’s pedigree here. Most noteworthy from a stamina standpoint is his broodmare sire Waquoit, who won the Brooklyn Handicap twice and Jockey Club Gold Cup once, both of those races run at a mile and a half at the time. He’s also inbred 4x5 to distance influence Herbager, and has an extremely low dosage number of 1.33.

Kent Desormeaux, who overslept and missed the workout today, had said that it was in the Gotham Stakes that Sweetnorthernsaint “became a man.” A review of that race on the Cal Racing site shows that he broke somewhat sluggishly from the ten post, was three wide around the first turn, relaxed off the slow pace, and was three wide again around the final turn. He was never really a threat in the stretch, and his non-threatening late rally looks less visually impressive on film than it does in the Racing Form. Nonetheless, he missed by less than a length in a race in which the pace scenario was against him; Like Now finished strongly in :30 4/5 for the last 2 ½ furlongs. In the Illinois Derby too, he sat off a slow pace until ready to take control; and he achieved a field-high two turn Beyer of 109.

For these reasons – his apparent ability to rate, his strong closes, and the fact that he’s experienced some adversity - I think that this horse may be the one out of the favorites that may be best able to adapt to the pace scenario, hanging back far enough from the lead to not be going too fast, yet able to put in a middle/late run when the leaders tire, as I have little doubt that they will. If I was handicapping this race without regard to how it was going to be run, I think this would be the one. Plus, he could be the 4th choice, though I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he’s third.

Lawyer Ron’s workout also looked really good, and he really accelerated through the stretch. More on him a bit later. Steppenwolfer drew the most criticism from Tom Amoss, who said that he was “very concerned” about the way the horse bore out wide turning into the stretch.