Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Domestic Product finds his sweet spot going shorter
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though Domestic Product has twice this year finished ahead of Fierceness in two-turn stakes races, he has found his best game going shorter distances.
About 45 minutes before Fierceness won Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga, Domestic Product won the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens going seven furlongs, beating Prince of Monaco by a neck. Domestic Product, trained by Chad Brown, followed a similar path set by his sire, Practical Joke, seven years earlier.
Practical Joke, who finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby in 2017, also won the Jerkens.
Domestic Product finished second in the Grade 3 Holy Bull, a race in which Fierceness finished third.
Domestic Product finished 13th in the Kentucky Derby before running second in the Pegasus Stakes going two turns in June. He then won the oneturn Dwyer Stakes at Aqueduct before the Jerkens.
“You’re trying to figure out post-Derby which direction to go with your colt,” Brown said. “We changed direction, much like we did with his sire.”
Following his victory in the Jerkens, Practical Joke ran in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar, where he finished fourth.
Brown is not sure if he will point Domestic Product in that direction, though his choices in one-turn races are likely limited at least when it comes to Grade 1 opportunities. The Cigar Mile, a race in which Practical Joke finished third, is now a Grade 2.
“I’m under no pressure to run him,” Brown said. “We’ll let him get back to the track and figure it out.”
Prince of Monaco, based in Southern California with Bob Baffert, finished second in the Jerkens after finishing second in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens here June 8.
“I thought he ran great. He had a chance to win, he just got beat,” Baffert said. “That was a good race. Those were good horses. It was competitive as hell. You hate to get beat, but everybody got a good scream out of it turning for home.”
Baffert said Prince of Monaco “is a tweener,” so he’s not sure if he’s a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint or Dirt Mile. He is already pointing National Treasure, the Met Mile winner, to the BC Dirt Mile.
“We’re going to get him back here and freshen him up a little bit and figure something out,” Baffert said.
Ballerina top three target BC
Society, Scylla, and Vahva, the top three finishers from Saturday’s Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes, will all target the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 2 at Del Mar, their connections said Sunday.
Society won the Ballerina by 3 1/4 lengths over Scylla, with Vahva another length back in third.
It was the first win for Society since she won the Pink Ribbon Stakes at Charles Town in August 2023. Society ended her 4-year-old campaign with a fourth-place finish in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita.
Trainer Steve Asmussen said the goal this year for Society was another shot at the Breeders’ Cup, with only two races beforehand. Society finished third in the Grade 3 Chicago at Churchill in June before her dominant score in the Ballerina, for which she earned a 102 Beyer Speed Figure.
Asmussen said it’s a credit to owner Peter Blum to put the Grade 1 winner Society back in training as a 5-year-old. Society, at 3, won the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing.
“The plan was to run her three times with plenty of spacing and have her at her best in the Breeders’ Cup,” Asmussen said.
Meanwhile, the decision to cut Scylla back in distance just three weeks after she finished
second to Adare Manor in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch at Del Mar paid off with her solid runner-up finish in the Ballerina.
“I would like to take a good, hard look at the Filly and Mare Sprint,” said Mott, who added he would have to talk with Juddmonte principals before a final decision is made. “I thought she ran a pretty powerful race, considering she just got back from California.”
Mott said he would not run Scylla before the Breeders’ Cup.
Trainer Cherie DeVaux had a slight concern whether Vahva really liked Saratoga, given her previous 0 for 2 record there. Her fears were realized when Vahva could manage only a third in the Ballerina after two big wins in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff and Grade 3 Chicago.
“Not going to make excuses,” DeVaux said. “I don’t think it’s her favorite track. She’s had an affinity for Churchill Downs and Keeneland.”
DeVaux said she would consider running Vahva one time before the Breeders’ Cup, possibly in the Grade 2, $350,000
Thoroughbred Club of America on Oct. 5 at Keeneland.
Mullikin may go to BC Sprint
The connections of Mullikin, winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga, will have much to discuss in the coming weeks. First, do they shorten the horse up in distance or stretch him out? Second, do they run him again before a possible start in a Breeders’ Cup race?
Mullikin ran his winning streak to four and became a Grade 1 winner with a dominant 5 3/4-length victory in Saturday’s $500,000 Forego. His streak began with an allowance win going six furlongs, but his last three victories have come at seven. The Breeders’ Cup Sprint is run at six furlongs, the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile is run at a mile and around two turns.
Trainer Rodolphe Brisset, who was on his way back to Kentucky on Sunday morning, said he would have to discuss all options with Elliott Walden, president of WinStar Farm, which co-owns Mullikin with Siena Farm.
“The two turns can be really questionable,” Brisset said. “He went 22 and 44 and change, 1:09 flat. Based on those fractions he may be a better fit to the Sprint than the [Dirt] Mile.”
Brisset said he also needs to discuss whether or not to run Mullikin again before the Breeders’ Cup. The Grade 2, $350,000 Phoenix Stakes at six furlongs on Oct. 4 at Keeneland is a Win and You’re In race for the BC Sprint.
Gun Pilot, second in the Forego, could be a candidate for the BC Sprint.
Far Bridge’s new style works
Far Bridge used new tactics to win his second Grade 1 stakes, taking Saturday’s $750,000 Sword Dancer in frontrunning fashion by one length over heavily favored Measured Time.
Acknowledging that Far Bridge has had difficult trips from off the pace, trainer Christophe Clement was hopeful that getting him involved early under Joel Rosario might be beneficial for Far Bridge, who in 2023 won the Grade 1 Belmont Derby from well off the pace.
“Joel worked the horse the other day on the lead on purpose,” Clement said. “He’s a difficult horse to ride. Whenever he comes from out of it he’s lugging in, lugging out, which is a mental thing, not a physical thing, with him.
“Yesterday the deal was if nobody goes, go; if somebody went, just be very close to the lead in second position,” Clement added. “The good news is when the two Godolphin horses went, they both looked at each other and Joel went, and well done, Joel.”
The victory earned Far Bridge a fees-paid berth into the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf to be run Nov. 2 at Del Mar. Clement said he has not yet decided if the horse would run before then, but that if he did, the race would most likely be the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on Sept. 28 at Aqueduct.
“We don’t have to make that decision now,” Clement said.
Measured Time and Silver Knott, both trained by Charlie Appleby for Godolphin Racing, finished second and third, respectively, in the Sword Dancer. Immediately after the race, Appleby mentioned the Joe Hirsch as a possible target for one or both horses.