By Mike Kane and Phil Janack
Lukas Reports Scrimshaw is OK
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Monday an examination done on Scrimshaw showed that the colt was not injured during the running of the King's Bishop (gr. I) on Saturday.Lukas said an X-ray of the colt's right knee was negative. "The right knee, he showed a little pressure in it, but only one day," Lukas said. "I said, `With a horse of that caliber you take a picture.' The picture came back clean.'"The X-rays were sent to veterinarian Dr. Larry Bramlage in Lexington, Ky., to be reviewed. Lukas said Scrimshaw is still at his barn in Saratoga and will be shipped to Keeneland.Scrimshaw, winner of the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (gr. II) at Keeneland in April, finished third in the Preakness (gr. I). He finished 10th of 13 horses in the seven-furlong King's Bishop, 11 1/4 lengths behind the winner, Valid Video.Lukas said a published report stating the colt owned by Bob and Beverly Lewis was lame and had a chip in his knee was incorrect.Pletcher Pair Work Toward Hopeful
Bashford Manor Stakes (gr. III) winner Limehouse breezed four furlongs in :49 1/5 Monday morning for trainer Todd Pletcher, and will run next in the Hopeful (gr. I) on Saturday.In that race he will meet stablemate and Sanford (gr. II) winner Chapel Royal, who worked five furlongs Monday in 1:01 1/5."In a perfect world, you would never run two of your horses against each other," said Pletcher, whose string numbers 135 between Saratoga, Belmont Park and Monmouth Park. "But, you have to do what's best for each horse and each owner."Value Plus, an impressive debut winner here July 26, went six furlongs in 1:14 breezing Monday, and will make his next start in the Futurity Stakes (gr. I) Sept. 14 at Belmont.Santos Begins 'Vacation'
Jockey Jose Santos will miss the last week of the meet serving a suspension that stemmed from an incident on opening day, July 23.Starting Tuesday, Saratoga's dark day, Santos will be out 10 days through Sept. 4. Belmont Park's fall meet begins Sept. 5.Santos drew the suspension for his ride on longshot Light Night in the sixth race on July 23. In the lead on the inside down the stretch, Santos switched to a left-handed whip, causing his horse to bear out and impede Soahib. Light Night was disqualified and placed second.Santos was given an automatic stay when he appealed the suspension. He dropped his appeal before Monday's scheduled hearing."I want to get it over with. I don't believe in appeals," Santos said. "I had to do it here because it was early in the meet. There was going to be a lot of things going to interfere later on with me. I'm planning to go to Chile in December and maybe go to Japan the end of November."I love to be here. I wish I could have gone all the way to the end, but I gotta do what I gotta do."Santos rode in seven of nine races Monday, finishing in the money six times and winning twice: aboard the 2-year-old Forestry filly Smokey Glacken, a half-sister to 1997 sprint champion Smoke Glacken, for her impressive debut victory in the sixth, and Sixty Seconds in the Glens Falls Handicap (gr. IIIT). During the day, his mounts earned $125,050.In all, Santos finished with 14 wins in 126 mounts (11%), 23 seconds and 22 thirds for purses of $1,324,868. He won the grade I Personal Ensign with long shot Passing Shot and the Albany Handicap for New York-breds with Traffic Chief, and was second in the grade I Whitney with Volponi and the grade I Ballerina with Shine Again."It was not bad. It was not good, either. It was right in-between," Santos said.He was fired from Volponi after the Whitney, and did not ride in the Travers after Kentucky Derby (gr. I) and Preakness (gr. I) winner Funny Cide came down sick."My summer's over, but it comes at a good time, too," he said. "I have to bring the family back to Florida and we're going to drive all the way there. I'll be back just in time for Belmont. It's going to work out for the best."Evening Attire Wins Again
Multiple stakes winner Evening Attire picked up his second win of the meet in Monday's seventh race. In typical late-running fashion, the 5-year-old gelding rallied from well off the pace to run the nine furlongs in 1:48 2/5, finishing 1 1/4 lengths in front of pacesetter Crafty Shaw.Evening Attire was the 3-5 favorite in a field cut to six by scratches of Sohaib, Onthedeanslist, Hard Buck and Hero's Tribute."He just did his thing. He's a nice horse," trainer Pat Kelly said. "We tried to get him a two-turn race before we head back. It worked out fine."Evening Attire won a nine-furlong allowance on opening day in a race that was washed off the grass, then came back 10 days later and ran third to Medaglia d'Oro and Volponi in the Whitney (gr. I).Kelly said he will consider several options from here, including the Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I) Sept. 27 and the Meadowlands Cup (gr. II) Oct. 3. The Breeders' Cup Classic, Powered by Dodge (gr. I) also remains a possibility."We'd like to run back in the Gold Cup," he said. "If the weather looks like it's nice, who knows. The Meadowlands Cup is around the same time frame. I did nominate to the Man o' War (gr. IT, Sept. 6) if it were to be raining when we get back to Belmont. It's weight-for-age, so they can't put 137 pounds on us."If we get back to the Breeders' Cup, that'd be great. If we don't, that'll be great, too. It's fun. It makes me get up at 5 o'clock every morning. He's a star and he knows it. We've got to try and replace him somewhere along the line and find another one."
