SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Owner Mike Repole may not have been dreaming of having a turf horse when he spent $750,000 on a yearling filly by Not This Time at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga auction. But given the way Time to Dream performed on the grass in her debut, it appears that turf is where this filly belongs.
Wednesday, Time to Dream will try to build on her July 25 maiden score when she heads a field of eight juvenile fillies set to go 1 1/16 miles on turf in the $150,000 P.G. Johnson Stakes at Saratoga.
In her debut, Time to Dream, a half-sister to multiple dirt sprint stakes winner Red Carpet Ready, settled in behind horses down the backstretch. Going into the far turn, jockey Jose Ortiz had to steady off the heels of another runner. She came four to five wide in the stretch and was able to run down a loose leader in Maiora to win by 2 1/2 lengths.
“I thought it was visually very impressive,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, a two-time winner of the P.G. Johnson. “Got stopped on the turn a little bit, re-rallied, nice turn of foot.”
Pletcher said Time to Dream had trained just average on dirt.
“We thought she showed some improvement on the turf,” he said. “It worked out for Up to the Mark.”
Up to the Mark, a horse by Not This Time that Pletcher trained for Repole, began his career on dirt but flourished when switched to turf, becoming a three-time Grade 1 winner.
Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Time to Dream from post 2.
Scratch It, a daughter of Tapit out of the Grade 2 dirt stakes-winning mare Carolyn’s Cat, won her debut going a mile on turf here Aug. 31. Though she got away with slow fractions on a course labeled firm, the race was run a day after inclement weather forced all scheduled turf races to the dirt.
“With it being on the inner turf that day and the ground being soft, it was important to break well and get a good position,” said Brad Cox, trainer of Scratch It. “Obviously, they didn’t go quick, but they’re not going to with the ground the way it was. She responded well when called upon turning for home.”
In her most recent workout on the turf, Scratch It went a half-mile in 50.22 seconds in company with the Grade 1 winner Fionn.
Manny Franco rode Scratch It to her debut win, but Flavien Prat is named to ride Wednesday.
Franco, who is 0 for 25 in stakes race at the meet, will ride Blanchett, who will attempt to become the ninth maiden to win the P.G. Johnson in what will be its 19th running. Blanchett, trained by Graham Motion, had to alter course when a horse came over on her in the stretch but rallied to finish third behind Snow Princess in a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint on July 30. Snow Princess came back to the win the Bolton Landing Stakes.
Devilish Grin, trained by Amelia Green, also is a maiden after finishing second in her first two starts, both sprints. She is out of the dam Casual Smile, who won the Grade 3 Matchmaker at Monmouth Park in 2015.
Trainer Mark Casse sends out the pair of Tiz in Sight and Vernon Valley, neither of whom have previously raced on turf. Bayou Brigid and Sushi complete the field.
Funny Cide
After failing to draw enough entries to be carded last Sunday when originally scheduled, the $150,000 Funny Cide Stakes for New York-bred juveniles will go with a field of five on Wednesday.
Trainer Jeremiah Englehart sends out Toga Twist, a debut winner on July 6, and Fourth and One, a first-time starter by Maxfield.
Toga Twist, a son of Omaha Beach, on July 6 dueled with Valentine Crusader almost all the way around the track and was able to get his nose down on the wire at the finish. Valentine Crusader came back Aug. 15 and got beat a nose again but did raise his Beyer Speed Figure 21 points.
Englehart said he didn’t have Toga Twist fully cranked for his first start.
“We ran him a little bit earlier than I normally would have, thought he could win that race on ability alone,” Englehart said. “He was probably 75 percent ready. He came out of that well and obviously pointing to this spot.”
Englehart believes Fourth and One is a talented New York-bred and said he wouldn’t be shocked if either one of his runners was able to win the six-furlong Funny Cide.
Minorinconvenience, trained by Green, is the only other winner among this quintet. On July 31, over a muddy track, Minorinconvenience chased the pace set by Force, overtook that one by the five-sixteenths pole, and powered home to a 10-length victory over 4-5 favorite Obliterator.
Gary Contessa, still looking for his first win of the meet, sends out the maidens Essentially Fast and Rumblyoungmanrumbl.
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