Acting Happy, third in the July 24 Betfair TVG Coaching Club American Oaks (gr. I), put in her final work the morning of Aug. 16 at Saratoga in preparation for the Aug. 21 Betfair TVG Alabama Stakes (gr. I). Guided by jockey Jose Lezcano just after 5:30 a.m., New York Racing Association clockers caught the filly covering five furlongs in 1:02.64.
“I was very happy with her work,” said Rick Dutrow Jr. in a statement. Dutrow trains the daughter of Empire Maker for Jay Em Ess Stable. “I thought she went very well, and Jose did, too,” he added. “She’ll walk tomorrow, jog the next day, I’ll either gallop or pony her the next day, same thing the next day, and she’ll walk the day she’s in.”
The Alabama will mark Acting Happy’s sixth start this year. She broke her maiden at first asking on at Gulfstream Park Jan. 24, and has not finished outside of the money in any of her starts since, including an impressive win in the Black-Eyed Susan (gr. II) at Pimlico May 14.
Blind Luck, winner of four grade I races, including the April 30 Kentucky Oaks, worked four furlongs in :49 flat over Del Mar’s Polytrack surface the morning of Aug. 16, which was the 22nd-fastest of 46 works at the distance.
“She went just fine,” said trainer Jerry Hollendorfer in a release. “We were very pleased with the workout.”
The 3-year-old daughter of Pollard's Vision is expected to ship into Saratoga sometime the afternoon of Aug. 17, with her trainer arriving Aug. 18.
Trainer Dominick Schettino and assistant Anthony Bonomo Jr. made a “spur of the moment” decision Aug. 16 to give Brooklyn Boyz Stables’ Connie and Michaela workout over the Oklahoma Training Track just before a heavy downpour saturated the area.
Connie and Michael, who is also expected to be an Alabama contender, handled five furlongs in 1:01.05. It was the fourth-best workout of 11 at the distance.
“We were up-in-the-air about working her. It was a spur of the moment work,” Bonomo Jr. said in a statement. “We felt coming into the race, we wanted to see where she was at with her fitness. We were proud of the way she went. She came back to the barn with no problems.”