Belmont champion Summer Bird (Birdstone) romped home to victory in the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga on Saturday afternoon, defeating highly regarded competitors Quality Road, Charitable Man, and Kensei.
The “other bird” now suddenly finds himself atop the 3-year-old colt division, having firmly rested that title from Kentucky Derby champion Mine That Bird – at least for the moment.
Big congratulations go out to trainer Tim Ice, who has always believed that his fabulous looking colt deserved a shot to face the best and has not been hesitant to run him against the most formidable foes around in both Rachel Alexandra and Quality Road.
We mentioned in the Haskell write-up that Tim was a stand-up guy that we’d be cheering for from here on out. After all the hype about Quality Road , and after all the attention that folks like me gave Kensei and Charitable Man, it was the good guy in Tim Ice that came out on top. What a year he’s having! 35 years-old and already has a Belmont and a Travers under his belt, not to mention most likely a 3-year-old male Eclipse Award.
Trainer Tim Ice and owners of Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes champion Summer Bird pose for a picture with our family on the morning of the 2009 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.
Hats off to the fantastic job they’ve done with the son of Birdstone, who seems to be following in his daddy’s footsteps with his victories in the Belmont and Travers.
Summer Bird showed the same tenacity in capturing the Travers that had allowed him to battle gamely for 2nd against Rachel in the Haskell, powering home in 2:02.83. Hold Me Back finished in 2nd with Quality Road and Charitable Man rounding out the superfecta.
As for what might be next? Well, no official word has been released, and likely won’t until they have a chance to check out Summer Bird following the race and ensure everything is sound. I will share that I asked Tim back in July what his long term goals were, and he mentioned the Travers first and foremost, but then also said that they were considering the Goodwood as a prep race for the Breeders’ Cup this fall.
Meanwhile, the procession of winners who last out ran into the dominant filly Rachel Alexandra and then returned to win continues with each passing day. Earlier in the day, the last filly to have defeated Rachel Alexandra, Sara Louise, returned to the winner’s circle by prevailing in the Victory Ride (Grade 3). The list of runners who have returned from facing Rachel to prevail next out just continues to grow and grow, and has become an angle that handicappers cannot ignore. Sara Louise, Gabby’s Golden Gal, Take the Points, Flashing – these are the runners in recent memory to have turned defeat at the hands of Rachel the Great into victory next out.
This is important because one might expect that horses would regress after being defeated as soundly as Rachel has done to them. Instead, the direct opposite has been true, and the filly winds up being flattered nearly every weekend as her legend continues to build.
It serves as a nice buffer to the “she hasn’t beaten anybody” claims that seem to get tossed around about all of the top horses when you can quickly look back and reference a growing pool of recent foes who have acquitted themselves on the race track upon returning from their “blind date with Rachel.”
Unfortunately, Munnings, third place finisher behind both Rachel Alexandra and Summer Bird in the Haskell at Monmouth Park, was not able to continue the string of runners to turn a Rachel encounter into a triumphant return. Vineyard Haven, that tenacious son of Lido Palace who at one point in his 2-year-old campaign adorned the top of nearly every “Derby watch list” one could find, proved that a return to Saratoga was indeed just what the doctor ordered. He powered home on top, but wound up drifting out badly in the lane, only to be disqualified from the win following a determined run from Capt. Candyman Can, who wound up being placed on top by the stewards after an inquiry into the bumper-car action of Vineyard Haven late in the stretch.
This was a fun race. I had looked at the PP about 1 hour only before the race. It was either Summer Bird or Quality Road. Quality road though had to go from 6f to this longer route distance. Summer Bird had already run 1 1/2 miles and won and also liked the mud. Birdstone did great in it. A closer figured best for this race with the pace upfront. I setteled on Summer Bird.
in your last post I gave my picks and hit 2 of 3, nailing Hold me back and Summer Bird.
I wonder what your feelings are on the wearing of Bar Shoes on Our Edge with no announcement to the betting crowd until 12:30 (and only at the track) I was off track and it was never announced at my place of betting. I would have thrown out Our Edge if I was given that information from NYRA early on.
KARL GRUSMARK[in the late 70's leading trainer at SUFFOLK+ROCKINGHAM] ships in horses that usually run well at the SPA. In the 10th today SUN AUG 30 he has WEATHERED in at 20-1. WORTH A SHOT.
Bar Shoes and 1st-time-gelding information are probably the most called for pieces of missing data that horseplayers demand.
I like to add to that list the curiousness of displaying things like $2 Superfecta payouts – especially when everyone in the house is playing them for a dime. Same goes for $2 Exacta, Trifecta, Pick 3, and Pick 4 payouts. Just show the payout for the minimum bet.
Nice job on the Summer Bird call, Mike.
KARL GRUSMARK[leading trainer at SUFFOLK DOWNS+ROCKINGHAM PARK in the late 70's] usually does well when he ships in horses to the SPA. Today Sun Aug.30 he has WEATHERED in the 10th at 20-1. Worth a play.
That was a great performance in the Travers. Summer Bird looked terrific before the race, I was very confident that he would get the job done. I’m really glad for Tim Ice too, amazing way to start a training career!
I was looking forward to seeing Indian Blessing in the Ballerina untill I saw Music Note in the post parade. I don’t know if I’ve EVER seen a horse that looked so good, she was on her toes the whole time, neck arched with a bounce in her step. It was good to see her come back strong.
Vineyard Haven really surprised me I have to admit. I did not think he would be able to handle that quality field the way he did. Very impressive, wonder where he’ll head next?
That’s a good question – I haven’t looked it up yet to see if they’ve announced anything about VH. He’ll be relatively fresh and dangerous when he does. Wonder what distance they might want to look for? Stretch him out a bit more next time out?
Unbelievable – WEATHERED is still running to catch-up at 42-1 while GRUSMARK has another runner in yesterday in a NY-bred-STAKES and finishes 2nd at 9-1. THAT’S HORSERACING WOULDA-COULDA-SHOULDA.