Mike Pegram’s Coil,
expected to be a principal player in the Grade 1, $1 million Travers, arrived
at Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s
barn at Saratoga Race Course Tuesday morning at 10:30 a.m.
With Baffert’s groom, Salvador
Rangel, overseeing the travel from Monmouth Park, Coil settled in easily for 20
minutes of walking before being set up in a stall shortly before 11 a.m. The
chestnut-colored winner of the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational on
Sunday was joined on the van ride from Monmouth Park by Kaleem Shah’s Irrefutable, beaten
favorite in the Teddy Drone Stakes on Sunday at Monmouth.
“He looks good to me,” said
trainer John Terranova, husband of Baffert’s New York assistant, Tonja Terranova.
Coil begins his preparations for
the August 27 “Midsummer Derby” as one of the rising stars in the 3-year-old
division. In the Haskell, he changed his tactics from pace-presser to late
closer and put away Preakness Stakes winner Shackleford in the late stages to
win by a neck.
The son of Point Given will aim
to duplicate his sire’s feat by winning the Haskell and then the Travers.
“The Travers is a strong
possibility if I like what I see these next couple of weeks,” Baffert said on
Monday. “That distance should not be a problem for him with his new running
style.”
Baffert’s impressive allowance
winning filly American Lady, who he trains for Shah, is scheduled to arrive
Thursday for Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Test, a seven-furlong fixture for
3-year-old fillies. So far, there are no concrete plans for the trainer’s
blazing 3-year-old The Factor, who remains a possibility for the Grade 1,
$250,000 Foxwoods Kings Bishop, a seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds on Travers
Day.
Baffert is expected sometime this
weekend for the races and then the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale on
Aug. 8-9.