Gem Mint Ten will take on NYSS Stakes company for the 2nd time in a row this Thursday in Saratoga.
Article courtesy of DRF
Ramblin' Wreck leads familiar foes in Cab Calloway division of NYSS
Jul 17, 2023 SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Danny Gargan will hope for a different trip but the same result when Ramblin’ Wreck heads a field of eight turf runners entered in Thursday’s $150,000 Cab Calloway division of the New York Stallion Stakes at Saratoga.
Last month, in his first start off a six-month layoff, Ramblin’ Wreck broke poorly and was taken up soon after the start by jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. but came with a wide rally from last to win the Spectacular Bid division of the NYSS by one length over favored Twenty Six Black.
“He broke and hit the gate and then it took a couple of jumps for him to get in stride,” Gargan said. “Irad did the right thing, he sat back there and waited. If he doesn’t get in his own way, we expect to have a big race.”
The Cab Calloway, run as a two-turn mile, is a different race than the Spectacular Bid, which is run as a one-turn, seven-furlong event. Ramblin’ Wreck did win going two turns at Aqueduct last September, and Gargan believes Ramblin’ Wreck’s fourth-place finish in last November’s Central Park Stakes, an open-company race, may have been his best race to date.
“He got in a ton of trouble and he couldn’t get through,” said Gargan, adding that jockey Manny Franco told him “He should have been second.”
Franco rode Twenty Six Black in the Spectacular Bid and remains on him for this race. Twenty Six Black looked like he was getting a beautiful trip in that race, but he couldn’t fend off Ramblin’ Wreck who came by him inside the sixteenth pole.
“He was a little green down the stretch and possibly backed off the bit when he made the lead,” said Horacio De Paz, trainer of Twenty Six Black. “Manny said he did jump back into the bit after the horse blew by him, but it was too late at that point.”
De Paz believes Twenty Six Black can be effective at a two-turn mile. There is a six-pound weight shift from the previous race that plays in Twenty Six Black’s favor.
“Manny doesn’t think he’s just a sprinter. He seems to relax, you can do whatever you want with him,” De Paz said.
Ramblin’ Wreck, with Ortiz, and Twenty Six Black, with Franco, break from posts 7 and 8, respectively, on Thursday.
Itsallcomintogetha, Vacation Dance, and Gem Min Ten –who finished third, fourth, and fifth in the Spectacular Bid – are back in the Cab Calloway. Vacation Dance will be reunited with Kendrick Carmouche after having to take off his mounts on the June 18 card. Trainer John Kimmel said Vacation Dance will likely be part of the pace Thursday.
“We’re going to give him his head and let him run, he doesn’t need to be grabbing him to take him back,” Kimmel said.
Mama Banned Me and Willintoriskitall both have won for maiden $40,000 claiming. Laurel Valley is a maiden. Jackson Heights is entered to run only if the race is transferred to the main track.
