Hot Rod Charlie Gets First Look at Saratoga

For the first time, Hot Rod Charlie  got a look at Saratoga.

The 4-year-old colt, owned by Boat Racing, Antony Beck's Gainesway Stable, Roadrunner Racing, and William Strauss, set foot on the Oklahoma Training Track just after 8 a.m. Aug. 3 and jogged once around.

Hot Rod Charlie, a son of Oxbow  , will make his first start at Saratoga Race Course in the $1 million Whitney Stakes (G1) Aug. 6.

Trainer Doug O'Neill will arrive in town Aug. 4 from his base at Del Mar in California. Hot Rod Charlie has been under the care of his long-time assistant Leandro Mora. Mora arrived from California; Hot Rod Charlie vanned to the Spa from Lexington where he has been training this summer.

He arrived at 8 a.m. Aug. 2.

"He shipped pretty good," Mora said after walking Hot Hot Charlie outside the stall area.

Hot Rod Charlie has banked $5,151,200 during his career, which has seen him win four times from 16 starts. He also has five seconds and three thirds.

In three starts this year, he has a win in the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 Presented by The Longines Record (G2) at Meydan Racecourse Feb. 4; a second in the Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1) in March, and a second in the Salvator Mile Stakes (G3) at Monmouth Park June 18.

He has been training at Keeneland, Mora said, because Hot Rod Charlie's long-term goal this season is the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) on Nov. 5 at Keeneland.

"He is still a very popular horse," Strauss said. "Everywhere we go, he just captures the public's fancy. People see he is a blue-collar horse. He doesn't have the greatest breeding, not the most expensive horse ($110,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale), yet when you put him on the racetrack, he gives you his all every single race."