The $200,000 With Anticipation Stakes (gr. IIT) Aug. 29 at Saratoga Race Course promises to reunite Tiger Bourbon, General Jack, and Bashart, the top three finishers in a key six-furlong maiden race July 12 on the Belmont Park turf.
On Thursday, the three are scheduled to reconvene with five other starters in the more consequential With Anticipation, a 1 1/16-mile test for 2-year-olds on Sartoga's Mellon turf. (There also are three horses entered under main-track-only conditions.)
On Thursday, the three are scheduled to reconvene with five other starters in the more consequential With Anticipation, a 1 1/16-mile test for 2-year-olds on Sartoga's Mellon turf. (There also are three horses entered under main-track-only conditions.)
In the July 12 maiden tilt at Belmont, Bourbon Lane Stable's Tiger Bourbon broke sharply in his career debut and raced third behind a longshot early leader through the opening quarter mile, racing just outside of Bashart with General Jack tracking in fourth.
On the turn, General Jack went four wide and confronted his main rivals as the pacesetter faded. Tiger Bourbon, despite racing between runners, pulled away to win by a half length. General Jack, who hit the gate and exchanged bumps early, finished second, followed by Bashart in third.
Since then General Jack easily won the 7 1/2-furlong Shakopee Juvenile Stakes by three lengths at Canterbury Park. Trained by co-owner Mike Maker, Maker and Tom Conway's General Jack is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the With Anticipation. After his July 12 debut, Bashart scored in a maiden grass race at the With Anticipation distance Aug. 18 at the Spa. Trained by Todd Pletcher for Rosedown Racing, Bashart will start from the inside.
Tiger Bourbon, 3-1 on the morning line, has waited for the With Anticipation and trained impressively over the Saratoga main track for trainer Eddie Kenneally.
"He's doing really good, obviously," said Kenneally's assistant, George Scott. "We're still learning about him, having only run him once. We're delighted by the way he's trained, and he's certainly a tough horse, so we've waited for the race. We had opportunities to run him on the dirt, but in the future, if we're aiming for bigger and better things, it's going to be on the turf."
Bashart, a son of War Front listed at 4-1 on the morning line, will be part of an uncoupled entry for Pletcher, who also will send out Ken and Sarah Ramsey's We Miss Artie , 6-1, a three-length winner at 1 1/16 miles in his first try on grass Aug. 11 at the Spa.
"We thought he'd trained pretty well on the dirt and didn't run badly first time on the dirt," Pletcher said of We Miss Artie, a son of Artie Schiller . "Given the strength of his pedigree for the turf, we breezed him on the turf and were pretty satisfied with that. Hopefully, he can continue to move forward. I think it helps he's had a race over the track."
Third-time starter Base Case Scenario, 5-1, could prove a strong threat for trainer Al Stall, Jr. The son of freshman sire Pioneerof the Nile won a 1 1/16-mile turf race July 27 at Saratoga. "We're happy with his progress since his first race at Saratoga," said Stall.
Base Case Scenario debuted in a dirt sprint at Churchill Downs in which Candy Dandy and Dunkin Bend, two of the faster 2-year-olds in the country, finished first and second. Base Case Scenario was third and Stall switched him to turf for his next start, mostly just to get give the colt some experience at two turns. He wound up winning, and so the With Anticipation became his next goal.
"It was not the first inclination," Stall said of running on turf. "In fact, I look forward to the day we can run him two turns on the dirt."
$200,000 With Anticipation Stakes (gr. IIT, Race 10, approximate post time 5:43 p.m. EDT), 2YOs, 1 1/16 miles (turf)
PP, Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer, Odds
1. Bashart (KY), J Castellano, 120, T A Pletcher, 4-1
2. River Dancer (KY), R Maragh, 120, D A Cannizzo, 12-1
3. Tiger Bourbon (KY), J Lezcano, 120, E Kenneally, 3-1
4. Racetrack Romance (FL), J Rocco Jr., 118, P L Reynolds, 15-1
5. Marvin's Miracle (NY), I Ortiz Jr., 120, J M Coronel, 12-1
6. Base Case Scenario (KY), R Albarado, 120, A M Stall Jr., 5-1
7. We Miss Artie (ON), J R Velasquez, 120, T A Pletcher, 6-1
8. General Jack (KY), R Napravnik, 120, M J Maker, 5-2
9. King Cyrus (KY) (MTO), TBA, 118, T A Pletcher, 3-1
10. Free Mugatu (NY) (MTO), L Saez, 118, J P Terranova II, 4-1
11. Howaboutwe (NY) (MTO), I Ortiz Jr., 118, J M Antonucci 8-1
