Trainer Tom Proctor is back in Saratoga for the first time in eight years, and his barn of 16 is top-heavy with 2-year-olds for his primary client, Glen Hill Farm.
Proctor hasn’t summered in Saratoga since 2017, when he went just 1 for 15. The year before, however, Proctor won six races from 14 starts.
The impetus for coming to Saratoga is that Glen Hill Farm, operated by Craig Bernick, is focusing on East Coast racing instead of California.
“It’s the strongest racing,” Bernick said of Saratoga. “We think we’ve got some horses with strong pedigrees that were raised right. We’ve got some nice yearlings that will race next year and we hope to do well this year, but for us, it’s getting used to everything, training the staff, et cetera.
“Next year, we’ll hopefully have some good 3-year-olds, as well as some strong 2-year-olds. With the future of California uncertain, they’re going to race on the East Coast.”
Among the 2-year-old fillies Proctor and Bernick hope to run here this summer are The Happy Tree and People Watching. The Happy Tree, by Uncle Mo, is a $500,000 yearling who is a full sister to the graded stakes winner Donna Veloce and from the same family as Cash Run and Forestry. By Bernick’s own admission, People Watching, by Twirling Candy, is not the prettiest-looking horse, but she has shown some ability.
“She was more horse than most of them, to be honest,” Bernick said. “She had a big, ugly head and her hind was in the air, but I fell in love with the horse.”
One More Guitar, by Bolt d’Oro, is a half-sister to the exciting 3-year-old Colloquial. Lima Lima is a Glen Hill farm homebred by War Front, while French Tip is a $500,000 daughter of Hard Spun out of an unraced dam who is a half-sister to Eight Belles. So It Begins, a daughter of Caravaggio, was entered to run Thursday.
Forever Man, a half-brother to four winners, and Phnom Penh, by Medaglia d’Oro out of multiple graded winner Cambodia (Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia) are colts to look for.
Proctor, for his part, is keeping expectations low.
“When you expect something, you usually get disappointed, so it’s always good to have low expectations,” Proctor said. “I’ve learned that with horses and I’ve learned that with people.”
One of the stable’s older mares, the 5-year-old Ocean Club, is being pointed to the Grade 2, $300,000 Ballston Spa here on Aug. 8. Ocean Club won the Grade 2 Nassau at Woodbine in her last start.
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