Saratoga Notes

- Pat Kelly won the statebred Dancin Renee stakes on Thursday with Precise Lady at 16-1; the trainer had three double digit odds bombshells here last year amongst his five winners, so you might want to pay attention. She'd actually won her prior race, and two of the last three; but was merely and nearly literally the last horse standing in this case after the leaders dueled themselves into submission. When the quarter splits are 21.3, 23.2, and 25.4, a horse needs merely to run evenly to be there at the finish. That's my idea of ugly racing.

Twisted Tale (Tale of the Cat) was the baby race winner for Asmussen; she had run second to the Schuylerville winner Subtle Aly in her debut. And what a game performance this was. She was pressed on the backside by Pletcher's Alachua on the outside, and by second choice Cozy Mesa on the inside. And after shaking them off, she had to hold off Forest Trail at the end. The latter is trained by Shug McGaughey, and as we've been saying, Shug doesn't win with first-timers much these days. He's 1 for his last 33 with two-year olds in that category; three for 58 overall. And his last debut winner was the late Pine Island in March of last year.

Scott Lake took the Hush Dear Stakes with Truly Blushed at 14-1, and we don't see that much of the trainer around these parts of late. He's only had 39 starters on the NY circuit in the last six months as compared to 530 elsewhere. Over the last two years, his winning percentage is 15% in New York; and 25% elsewhere. Can anyone think of a possible reason for these disparities? Just thought I'd ask.

And the Toddster got on the board with Ready's Image, dominating some promising juveniles in the Sanford. Two year old stakes accounted for four of his nine graded wins here last year; and they were Circular Quay, Adieu, Cotton Blossom, and Octave.