SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – If the last week of the meet could go as well as the first week did, trainer Cherie DeVaux could see her Saratoga summer go from good to great.
DeVaux won with four of her first 10 starters during opening week, but has gone winless with 18 runners since. However, DeVaux had six seconds and four thirds from those 18 starters, including runner-up finishes in the Grade 2 Shuvee (Shotgun Hottie), Grade 1 Fourstardave (More Than Looks ), and Grade 2 Lake Placid (She Looks Pretty). Vahva finished third in last Saturday’s Grade 1 Ballerina.
DeVaux will finish the meet out with plenty of action beginning Thursday, when she was to send out Without Caution in the Grade 3 With Anticipation for 2-year-olds on turf. On Friday, DeVaux will start The Process in the Grade 3 Saranac for 3-year-olds on turf.
Sunday could be a potentially huge day for DeVaux when she starts Pyrenees in the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup as she tries to find out if the 4-year-old colt is worthy of moving on to the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Also Sunday, DeVaux will have a strong uncoupled entry of Taking Candy and Rebel Red in the $150,000 Bernard Baruch Stakes.
Pyrenees, a son of Into Mischief, went 0 for 4 as a 2-year-old before being sidelined for a year due to injury. Since coming back to the races last Dec. 23 at Fair Grounds, Pyrenees has won four of five starts, including the Grade 3 Pimlico Special where he defeated Kingsbarns. That horse came back to beat Pyrenees by 2 1/2 lengths in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs on June 29. Kingsbarns has since been retired due to injury.
DeVaux said Pyrenees, before going to the sidelines, “was like a shy kid who didn’t want to participate” in his races. Since coming back into training following his injury, he was totally different.
“Before he got injured, he went through the motions,” DeVaux said. “When he came back, there was a marked difference in his training, just how much more focused and forward he was.”
Pyrenees won his maiden and an allowance at Fair Grounds during the winter before capturing a second-level allowance at Keeneland in April. In the Pimlico Special, he ran down Kingsbarns, who had gotten the jump on him and was coming off two victories of his own since returning from injury.
“We managed our expectations hoping he would put in a good run with Kingsbarns being in there, definitely an accomplished horse,” DeVaux said. “The fact he ran him down showed tenacity with everything not going his way. He definitely has made the leap to be in that level of competition.”
Pyrenees couldn’t catch Kingsbarns in the Stephen Foster at 1 1/8 miles but DeVaux is looking forward to stretching him out to 1 1/4 miles on Sunday.
“Probably a little more distance suits him,” said DeVaux, who will have Brian Hernandez Jr. to ride.
The Jockey Club Gold Cup, which offers a fees-paid berth into the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, was expected to include Whitney winner Arthur’s Ride, 2023 Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Bright Future, Disarm, Highland Falls, Kuchar, and Tapit Trice.
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