Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Power Squeeze headlines big field expected for Alabama
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The absence of Thorpedo Anna is likely to mean Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga will attract a large field. Among the top contenders will be Power Squeeze, who has won 4 of 6 starts this year, most recently the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks, which she won by a nose over Sidamara.
While the narrow margin of victory might not look impressive, Jorge Delgado, trainer of Power Squeeze, believes there was more to the story.
“She won the race and I give all the credit to her because she was so tough and showed so much grit,” Delgado said. “They pushed the race back two days, the heat wasn’t helping too much, she had to sleep in a place she didn’t know well, and she wasn’t having her best time, and she still won that day.”
The Delaware Oaks was originally scheduled for July 6 but was pushed back two days because of extreme heat.
The Delaware Oaks was the sixth race for Power Squeeze in 2024, all in stakes. She won the Cash Run at Gulfstream Park on New Year’s Day, the Suncoast on Feb. 10 at Tampa Bay, and the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks on March 30, beating Ways and Means, who on Aug. 3 won the Grade 1 Test here.
Power Squeeze, a daughter of Union Rags owned by Lea Farms, finished sixth behind Thorpedo Anna in the Kentucky Oaks and third behind her in the Grade 1 Acorn at Saratoga. Thorpedo Anna, the top 3-yearold filly in the country, is skipping the Alabama to take on the boys in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes on Aug. 24.
Delgado said he would like another shot at Thorpedo Anna at some point and was planning to run Power Squeeze in the Alabama even if Thorpedo Anna was in the race.
“We had that plan,” Delgado said. “I know in this business you fail more than you win, but I was dreaming to beat Thorpedo Anna. Mixed emotions. She’s not in the race, you’re not going to face her, but maybe at some point we’ll face her this year and maybe she’s a filly that can beat her.”
Entries for the Alabama were to close Sunday. Those expected for the 1 1/4-mile race include Candied, Candy Gray, Chatalas, Intricate, Just Basking, Miss Justify, Neon Icon, and Sidamara.
Aspen Grove trying for BC
Trainer Jack Sisterson believes Aspen Grove has the talent to run in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 2 at Del Mar. She’ll likely have to do more to get in that field, but on Thursday she may have taken a first step toward doing that.
Aspen Grove won a secondlevel allowance race at Saratoga, overcoming a pedestrian pace over soft-ish ground to beat Avenue Niel by a neck. It was Aspen Grove’s first win since she captured the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks in July 2023 when still racing for the Europeanbased trainer James Stack.
In three prior runs for Sisterson in 2024, Aspen Grove finished second, beaten a halflength, in the Grade 2 Hillsborough on March 9 at Tampa Bay Downs; third, beaten a length in the Grade 3 Modesty on May 3 at Churchill Downs; and seventh, beaten five lengths in the Grade 1 New York on June 7 at Saratoga.
“Obviously, we dropped her down in grade just to get her confidence back up,” Sisterson said Friday morning. “I’m probably going to be a bit biased here, but I think she’s been a bit unlucky. In the Hillsborough, they went no pace up front. The Modesty, she got squeezed at the start. I think she ran a better race visually than on paper in the New York here. If you look at the first bend, she got checked pretty hard, got a bit banged up, but she came finishing well.”
Thursday, Sisterson felt Aspen Grove was again compromised by a lack of pace and “Tyler [Gaffalione] rode her perfectly,” he said.
Aspen Grove earned an 89 Beyer Speed Figure for the win.
Sisterson will speak with the co-owners, Glen Hill Farm and Coolmore, about where to run Aspen Grove next. The Grade 2, $200,000 Rodeo Drive on Oct. 5 at Santa Anita is one option. The New York Racing Association has not yet released its Belmont at Aqueduct fall stakes schedule, but it will likely offer the Grade 2, $200,000 Waya on or about Oct. 5.