SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After getting what trainer Tom Morley calls “penalty kicks” while easily defeating New York-bred competition in his last two starts, The Big Torpedo is in for the biggest test of his still young career when he returns to open company to take on five rivals in Friday’s $175,000 Saranac at Saratoga.
The Grade 3 Saranac, for 3-year-olds, will be decided at 1 1/16 miles on the turf and has lured a compact but well-matched field that includes the very dangerous-looking Brad Cox-trained duo of West Hollywood and Take Me To Church.
The Big Torpedo was very good on dirt to begin his career and has gotten even better since Morely switched him to the grass to finish second against open company in the one-mile Woodhaven on April 27 at Aqueduct. He improved even further when returning against statebred competition on the turf in his last two starts to win a pair of New York Stallion Series stakes going six furlongs and a mile for which he received career-best Beyer Speed Figures of 88 and 90.
“We feel we’ve done what we needed to do against 3-year-old New York-bred horses, there are some really big turf races on the second part of calendar year, and this race will give us an idea where we fit,” Morley said while explaining the decision to step The Big Torpedo up into graded stakes company. “We had the option of running him in a stakes going nine furlongs at Colonial, but we feel more comfortable running him over a track he’s already won on and at this distance instead.
“He’s going to have to step up, but he’s a horse full of confidence right now and I’m really looking forward to running him.”
West Hollywood will take a big jump into stakes competition for the first time in the Saranac. He has captured two of his three starts since coming to the United States and joining Cox’s barn earlier this season, including a late-running, half-length victory against high-priced optional-claiming and allowance rivals earlier in the meet.
Take Me To Church is arguably the biggest question mark in this lineup, but he is as dangerous as any while making his U.S. debut and first start since finishing fifth, beaten just eight lengths by the multiple Group 1 winner Rosallion, in the prestigious Irish 2000 Guineas on May 25 at The Curragh. Take Me to Church, who was purchased out of a Goffs sale after the Guineas, has breezed three times locally for Cox, including twice on the turf, in preparation for his North American debut and will be equipped with blinkers for the first time Friday.
Like West Hollywood, The Process will try stakes foes for the first time while coming off an entry-level allowance win. He beat older rivals last month at Colonial Downs while earning a lifetime-best 85 Beyer Speed Figure. The Process is by More Than Ready out of the dam Eblouissante, who is a half-sister to Zenyatta, and is trained by Cherie DeVaux.
“He’s one that showed us a lot as a 2-year-old, but it took him a while to put it together,” DeVaux said. “His race at Colonial showed that he seemed to have figured it all out. That race came back strong [speed figure-wise] and warrants putting him in a race like the Saranac.”
Villain and Yo Daddy are both last-out winners, the latter having paired 90 Beyer Figures in each of his last two starts.
– additional reporting by David Grening
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