Salty Strike, most recently fourth in the Grade 1, 1 1/16-mile Mother
Goose at Belmont Park, breezed four furlongs over the Oklahoma training track
in a bullet 48.44 this morning in preparation for Saturday’s Grade 1 Test for
3-year-old fillies.
“She worked great early this
morning,” said Ken McPeek, who trains the Smart Strike filly for owner-breeder
Craig Singer. “It was a really sharp breeze, as good as I’ve ever seen her.”
Although she owns a victory in
Churchill Downs’ Grade 3 Dogwood at a mile, McPeek feels Salty Strike is better
suited to the seven furlongs of the Test.
“The cutback ought to really help
her,” he said of the filly, who will once again run without Lasix. “I don’t
think she really wanted to go as far as we ran her in the last race. We just
thought with a short field it would be a good place to get some Grade 1 black
type. But she didn’t make the distance.
“I think she just outclassed that
group at Churchill at a mile; 1 1/6th miles is a little bit too much
for her,” he added. “She’s a classy filly.”
Next Sunday, McPeek will saddle Noble’s
Promise in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt, which will mark the Cuvee
colt’s first appearance at Saratoga. In his most recent start, Noble’s Promise
was third, beaten just a length, in the Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap at
Calder, which came on the heels of his one-length victory in the Grade 3
Aristides at Churchill on June 4.
“It’s really hard, going into
Calder,” said McPeek. “Calder’s an away game. Something about it, it’s the
home-team advantage every time. He didn’t switch leads late, in fact, he ran
the last half-mile on the left. If he had switched leads I think he would have
won.”
McPeek said the 4-year-old colt, a
millionaire who is 5-3-2 from 15 starts, would likely breeze on Monday for the
six-furlong Vanderbilt.