Glen's Falls Handicap and Hopeful Stakes Recap

by Patricia Woo | Sep 7 2009

On Monday, Sept. 7th, Saratoga Race Course closed its summer season with a pair of exciting races: the $100,000 Gr. 3 Glens Falls Handicap and the $300,000 Gr. 1 Three Chimneys Hopeful Stakes.

The Glens Falls Handicap was a showcase for fillies and mares 3 years old and up over Saratoga's 1 3/8-mile inner turf course while the Hopeful Stakes was a 7-furlong dirt test for 2-year-olds - a good preview of next year's Kentucky Derby crop.  

German-bred Caprice was one of the favorites to win the Glens Falls Handicap, which also included several of her Dick Memorial Handicap foes: Astrologie and Avie's Tal (two Christophe Clement trainees) as well as Winter View (trained by Jonathan Sheppard).

In the end, however, it was Mushka, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, who made good on an early lead coming out of the stretch turn and went on to finish first by a time of 2:13.50.

"I can't do it without an eager mount; and my mount was eager," Desormeaux said. "She cornered in hand, and I hadn't encouraged her to run yet. She started lengthening her stride, so she was telling me she wanted to go faster."

Trained by Bill Mott, Mushka's victory paid $7.40, $4.60 and $3.20; runner-up Lemonette paid $12.40 and $7.80; and Queen of Hearts paid $10.40 to show.

Dublin gave jockey Jamie Theriot a bit of a scare coming out of the gate Monday at the Three Chimneys Hopeful Stakes, but when he finally found his stride he made up for lost time and then some -- winning the race at 01:23.52.

"I expected him to run well. He had a good month up here since his maiden win," trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. "Jamie said he was green in the stretch, but that's the first time he's really knuckled down on him. We've never really asked him to lay it down in the morning. He stumbled badly leaving the starting gate. He almost went to his knees."

Aspire pushed hard from 10th to finish second, 1 1/2 lengths ahead of jockey Calvin Borel and Aikenite. Backtalk finished fourth and was seeking his first Grade 1 victory. (Dublin paid $8.20, $5.80 and $3.80; runner-up Aspire paid $8.40 and $3.20; and Aikenite paid $10.40 to show.)

The Hopeful Stakes featured a full field of 12 colts, including Sanford Stakes runner-up Enumerate, a Steve Asmussen-trained colt who was beaten by Backtalk by a mere head.

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