Horse Racing
Mike Welsch 13y

Turallure runs down Get Stormy

Horse Racing

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Turallure could not make up ground after Sidney's Candy was allowed to get away with a snail-like pace in the Fourstardave Handicap earlier in the meet. But the faster fractions and added distance of the $200,000 Bernard Baruch was all Turallure needed to run down defending champion Get Stormy to register a 2 1/4- length victory in the Grade 2 over a good course Friday at Saratoga.

Turallure finished third, beaten three lengths, by Sidney's Candy, in the 1 1/16-mile Fourstardave. He rated even further off Get Stormy's pace in the nine-furlong Baruch, was angled five wide by jockey Julien Leparoux while commencing his rally into the stretch, then readily overtook the leader with a strong closing surge to win going away.

Get Stormy, who swept both the Fourstardave and Bernard Baruch here last season, missed this year's Fourstardave due to a minor tendon injury discovered just days before the race. Get Stormy controlled the pace of the Bernard Baruch under jockey Ramon Dominguez, setting fractions originally posted as 22.23 seconds, 46.29 and 1:09.82 for the opening six furlongs but which were adjusted immediately after the race to a more realistic 23.95, 48.45 and 1:12.45.

Get Stormy settled into the stretch with a seemingly comfortable advantage but proved no match for the winner in the final sixteenth.

Turallure, a 4-year-old son of Wando, completed nine furlongs in 1:48.75 and paid $20.

"He lost all chance in the Fourstardave going into the first turn and it was probably partly my fault because nobody wanted to go with Sidney's Candy and like everyone else in that race we tried to stay off of him," said Charles Lopresti, who trains Turallure for owner Donna Arnold. "I would have been very disappointed if this horse didn't run well today because he trained like a monster and I knew he got a lot out of the Fourstardave."

Lopresti, who said Turallure is not nominated to the Breeders' Cup, mentioned the Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland as perhaps his next option.

To Honor and Serve in sharp score

To Honor and Serve won his first race at 3 and served notice he could be a major force in the division the remainder of the year after cruising to a convincing 8 1/4-length victory over five overmatched rivals in a $57,000 optional claiming race on Friday.

Live Oak Plantation's To Honor and Serve was considered a leading Kentucky Derby candidate when the year began after closing out his 2-year-old campaign with victories in the Grade 2 Nashua and Remsen. But after finishing a disappointing third in both the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby this winter at Gulfstream Park To Honor and Serve was sidelined by a suspensory injury. He finally returned earlier this month in the 6 1/2-furlong Amsterdam, finishing a tiring sixth after contesting a fast pace.

"We needed to see this before we stepped up," a smiling Mott said after the race. "At one point we thought he was a Travers horse but the timing didn't work out. He was much more mature today. He was good in the post parade, good behind the gate, he didn't get hot and was good in the gate too.

"We didn't expect that other horse to go to the lead in front of him and it was nice to see him relax off that other horse's hip down the backside. He was a much more mature horse today than he was a month ago."

Mott did not commit immediately to where or when To Honor and Serve would run next.

"We'll have to look the schedule over and see, maybe Pennsylvania," Mott said referring to the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 24.

"He's a horse we thought would get better all along," said Mott. "Maybe he'll be even better next year."

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