Ice Princess, winner on last year’s Showcase Day card, returns for the Empire Distaff. Chelsea Durand/NYRA Photo.
The Saratoga Special
Saturday marks the biggest day of the year for New York-breds with the Empire Showcase at Belmont Park and the crew from The Saratoga Special is proud to again roll out a special edition of The Showcase Special for the occasion.
Yes, that’s a lot of special but that’s what the day is all about. Ten races are on tap and even with the shift of two major turf stakes, the day figures to be competitive and memorable. Led by the $300,000 Empire Classic Handicap and $250,000 Empire Distaff Handicap, the card gets rolling at 12:35 p.m. ET and will be a can’t miss.
The Showcase Special goes race-by-race, providing the perfect primer and follow-along guide for horsemen, breeders, owners and fans of the New York Thoroughbred. And we’ve tossed in some of the popular subcategories from the daily Here & There feature that runs every summer in The Special.
Here’s the primer for Saturday, Oct. 31. Safe trips to all and good luck.
The Showcase Special
Race 1. $75,000 maiden special weight. 12:35 p.m. ET. Field of nine for the opener going 1 mile on the Widener Turf Course. All but Larry Goichman’s homebred Summer Front filly Sarah’s Splendor have run, some better than others.
Race 2. $45,000 maiden claiming. 1:09. Stay on the grass – we hope – for $40,000 claiming event at 1 1/16 miles. This one on the inner with a field of 12 that includes two AEs and an MTO. Noble Journey runs for the tag again after an off-the-turf fourth.
Race 3. $250,000 Sleepy Hollow Stakes. 1:41. Six 2-year-olds go 1 mile, including Bertram F. Bongard winner Shipsational for Eddie Barker and Iris Smith. Overstep, a son of Into Mischief who cost $360,000 last September, impressed in his debut and looks to take the next step up the ladder for Repole and St. Elias.
Race 4. $75,000 maiden special weight. 2:13. Back to the grass and a 6-furlong event on the inner. Full field entered, including some MTOs that deserve a look if it comes off.
Last year’s Albany winner Chestertown shortens up for Saturday’s Hudson Handicap. NYRA Photo.
Race 5. $150,000 Hudson Handicap. 2:43. Interesting cast for 6 1/2-furlong event. Judge N Jury is 3-for-4 against state-bred competition, including nice win Oct. 3 over fellow Hudson entrant Bronx Bomber. Chestertown and Ny Traffic have done their best work going long and shorten up here, while Foolish Ghost looks to recapture form that landed him the John Morrissey at Saratoga.
Race 6. $150,000 Iroquois Stakes. 3:15. Miss Jimmy ships down from Finger Lakes after easy score in Arctic Queen over Hannah Dances and Letmetakethiscall, who are also entered. The Important One comes off two solid wins and makes her stakes return for Steve Asmussen and owner-breeder Bloom Racing.
Race 7. $250,000 Maid of the Mist Stakes. 3:47. Bigger field here for the 2-year-old fillies with 10 entered, including Stonestreet Stable’s $500,000 purchase Velvet Sister, runner-up in back-to-back stakes; Sandy’s Garden, a 20 3/4-length winner in her debut at Finger Lakes; and Sue Ellen Mishkin, seventh in the Grade 1 Spinaway after a sharp state-bred maiden score at Saratoga.
Race 8. $250,000 Empire Distaff Handicap. 4:21. Another good group for the co-feature going 1 1/16 miles. Ice Princess just missed in the John Hettinger on the grass and returns to the main track for Danny Gargan. Byhubbyhellomoney and Make Mischief were a neck apart in the Fleet Indian and take on older foes here. Trinni Luck puts three-race win streak – including an open-company score Sept. 17 at the track and trip – on the line for Rudy Rodriguez.
Sea Foam, winner of the Evan Shipman this year at Saratoga, returns to New York for Saturday’s Empire Classic. NYRA Photo.
Race. 9. $300,000 Empire Classic Handicap. 4:52. Mr. Buff returns to defend his back-to-back titles and he’ll do it off a bit of a layoff. Off since finishing fifth in the Aug. 11 Evan Shipman, the 7-year-old Friend Or Foe gelding owns five wins at Belmont and takes on a good group led by top 3-year-old Americanrevolution, Shipman winner Sea Foam, Three Jokers, and Tiergan.
Race 10. $80,000 allowance. 5:23. Back to the grass for 7-furlong event that lured 16 to the entry box, including three AEs and an MTO. The veteran Neuro always runs his race and he’s in against the likes of King Angelo, War Terminator and City Mischief.
Names of the Day
Dufresne, seventh race. Maid of the Mist Stakes. We couldn’t resist this daughter of Uncaptured named for the main character in Shawshank Redemption.
Sue Ellen Mishkin, seventh race. Maid of the Mist Stakes. Seinfeld fans will know, even if we’re not 100 percent certain on the spelling.
Byhubbyhellomoney, eighth race. Empire Distaff. One of the most popular winners of the 2021 Saratoga meet, the Bob Dunham-trained 3-year-old filly is by Effinex.
By the Numbers
Bank Sting, one of two runners for leading New York sire Central Banker on the card, runs in the Empire Distaff. NYRA Photo.
2: Runners for leading New York-based sire Central Banker on the card – Bank Sting in the Empire Distaff, Wild Banker in the Empire Classic. Central Banker stands at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds.
3: Runners by Freud, second on the New York general sire list, Saturday – Freudian Analyst (AE in the second), Dakota Dancer (fourth) and Neuro (10th). Freud stands at Sequel Stallions New York.
3: Homebred runners for Barry K. Schwartz’s Stonewall Farm on the card – second-time starter Shigeko in the opener, Amundson in the Hudson and Sharp Starr in the Empire Distaff.
5: Entrants bred by Chester and Mary Broman – Overstep in the Sleepy Hollow, Chestertown in the Hudson, Captain Bombastic and Mr. Buff in the Empire Classic and City Mischief in the finale.
5: Horses entered for Jorge Abreu and Steve Asmussen, co-second most of any trainer.
10: Horses entered by trainer Rudy Rodriguez, most of any conditioner.
63: Trainers with at least one runner entered Saturday.
100: Individual entries on the card.
999: Career wins for trainer Gary Sciacca heading into Saturday. He runs two on the card – Crossing Verazanno in the second and Arduously in the fourth.
$1,400,536: Career earnings for two-time Empire Classic winner Mr. Buff, the most of any runner on the card.
$1,625,000: Combined purses for Saturday’s Empire Showcase Day card.
$2,025,000: Total purses with the two grass stakes – the Ticonderoga and Mohawk – that were moved to next weekend.
Worth Repeating
“Empire New York Showcase Day highlights the very best NY-breds in competition, displaying the talented Thoroughbreds our state’s breeders contribute to all divisions across New York racing.”
Najja Thompson, Executive Director of New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc.
“The New York-bred program is a sensational one. … There’s no reason if you have a good mare that you can’t produce a competitive horse in New York. It’s not easy to win these races. They’re competitive races as well. Over the years I’ve been doing this, the New York-bred horses have gotten more and more competitive.”
Waterville Lake Stable’s Richard Leahy
Danny California comes off short freshening for Rudy Rodriguez in the Empire Classic. NYRA Photo.
“It’s a very important day for us. We’re here year-round in New York and to be able to compete in these kinds of races is extra special. These types of horses don’t come around often and this year we’re lucky to have a couple horses that we claimed that are doing well right now.”
Trainer Rudy Rodriguez, whose Showcase Day runners include Danny California and Tiergan in the $300,000 Empire Classic
“He’s coming off a big third against some more seasoned horses in the Pennsylvania Derby. He’s come a long way in a short period of time, so the Empire Classic makes sense for him.”
Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher on Americanrevolution
“The race is coming up deep which is expected because it’s $250,000 and a stakes.”
Rodriguez about the Empire Distaff, where he runs Ryan Racing’s homebred Trinniberg filly Trinni Luck
“She worked really well. She loves it here. I like the way she gets across the main track.”
Shane Tripp, assistant to Mark Casse, on Empire Distaff contender Make Mischief
“I’ve always wanted to bring him back to one turn because that seven-eighths race was so impressive. If he runs well our target would be the Cigar Mile in December, but we’ll go one race at a time.”
Saffie Joseph Jr. on Ny Traffic, who runs in Saturday’s Hudson Handicap
