SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – If Itsallcomintogetha does not win the Kingston Stakes on Wednesday at Saratoga it won’t be because the trainer doesn’t know his horse.
Phil Serpe trains homebred Itsallcomintogetha for Mike Hills’s Hilly Fields Stable. He trained Itsallcomintogetha’s dam, Ladywell Court, and Itsallcomintogetha’s five siblings that raced. He trained Ladywell Court’s dam, Commander’s Lady, and Serpe trained Ladywell Court’s two siblings.
“Itsallcomintogetha is by Weekend Hideaway,” Serpe said. “I trained him, too.”
Itsallcomintogetha and 11 other New York-breds were entered in the $200,000 Kingston, carded for 1 1/16 miles on turf. Ten are in the field’s main body, two entered for the main track only.
Itsallcomintogetha’s lone stakes win came in a New York-sired restricted contest, but last season he ran competitively in a pair of New York-bred turf-route stakes while facing the old guard in this division, none of whom show up in Wednesday’s entries. Spirit of St Louis won this race in 2024 but is no worse than second choice Saturday in the $1 million Manhattan Stakes. City Man and Dakota Gold, stalwarts in races like this, haven’t posted a timed workout since mid-winter.
Serpe has Itsallcomintogetha on the same pattern he used a year ago: A winter freshening, a March practice race at Gulfstream Park, then a return to New York-bred competition. In 2024, that won Itsallcomintogetha an Aqueduct allowance race, and this season’s Florida start revealed a new dimension in Itsallcomintogetha. Typically a front-runner, he rated kindly from fourth, finished strongly, and was second by a neck to Sherlock’s Jewel, who returned to win a third-level allowance and starts Thursday in the Grade 3 Poker.
“I never thought he was a horse who had to have the lead, but we just didn’t really have a chance to try him off the pace,” Serpe said.
Itsallcomintogetha breaks from the rail in a race with plenty of other speed: Taking a light hold and slipping into the pocket could serve him well.
The morning line pegs Hush of a Storm as the 2-1 favorite, but there’s no reason to take a short price on a horse who rates no better chance than several others. Brad Cox trains Hush of a Storm and Flavien Prat rides him, and that alone makes this 7-year-old an underlay.
Five horses entered for turf last started in a New York-bred second-level allowance (the kind of race Hush of a Storm won here last summer), and any one of them could step up. Bettrluckythangood ended his 2024 campaign clearing that allowance class with a nifty late run that earned him a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure. Bettrluckythangood didn’t start in an intended allowance prep because the race was rained off turf, trainer Miguel Clement said, but with no Kingston standouts, why not take a shot anyway, Clement figured.
Clement, a third-generation trainer, just took over the stable operated by his late father, Christophe. His horse will be coming late in the Kingston, trying to reel in Serpe’s third-generation horse.
Mount Vernon
The strong hand that owner-breeder Barry Schwartz holds in the $200,000 Mount Vernon Stakes comes with horses in the hands of two trainers.
Awesome Czech starts for trainer Horacio De Paz, Whatlovelookslike for trainer Todd Pletcher, and both rate a solid chance in the 10-runner Mount Vernon, a 1 1/16-mile grass race for older New York-bred fillies and mares.
Whatlovelookslike drops out of four Grade 3 stakes, but distance and post position, not class, are her barriers to success. Those graded starts came in races between 1 3/8 and 1 1/2 miles, and Whatloveslooklike hasn’t won at 1 1/16 miles in the better part of two years.
“She’s training well and she has shown herself to be a versatile horse,” Pletcher said.
Whatlovelookslike drew post 10, a poor post for a mare who has just enough pace to get caught wide into the first of two turns.
Awesome Czech hasn’t raced in graded competition but finished a respectable fourth with the wrong trip – racing on the lead – last summer in the open Virginia Oaks.
“She likes to be covered up and come with a run,” De Paz said. “And she likes Saratoga.”
Awesome Czech sharply won an age-restricted New York-bred turf stakes here in August and got in a useful 4-year-old debut May 3, finishing second in an open first-level allowance race that she might have won with better homestretch luck.
De Paz also starts late-running Can’t Fool Me, who can hit the board if the pace comes up fast.
Rail-drawn Silver Skillet rates as strong a chance as anyone, and she, too, had rough luck in an allowance prep for the Mount Vernon. While she’s performed decently from a stalking position, Silver Skillet’s peak performances have come on the lead. The problem there is the horse drawn next to her, Spinning Colors, is a confirmed front-runner. Tactics are in the able hands of Joel Rosario. The strongest hand belongs to Schwartz.
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