Ain't Life Grand Arrives in Saratoga for Travers

Iowa Derby winner Ain't Life Grand  has arrived at Saratoga Race Course, where he will target the $1.25 million Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1).

The Iowa-bred son of Not This Time   comes off a seven-length romp in the July 23 Iowa Stallion Stakes at Prairie Meadows going a mile and 70 yards. He won the 1 1/16-mile Iowa Derby by 1 1/2 lengths with a strong late rally for trainer Kelly Von Hemel, who believes the 1 1/4-mile distance of the Aug. 27 Travers is right up the colt's alley.

"We like our colt and we want to take a shot at the Travers," Von Hemel said Aug. 8. "I've always thought all along he's a true mile and a quarter horse, and his numbers have come back really strong. I hate to call anything easy, but we knew going into the Iowa Stallion Stakes that he wasn't going to have to run very hard, and he's still got five weeks until the Travers."

Iowa Derby winner Ain't Life Grand checks out his new digs at Saratoga! pic.twitter.com/XEt0Nh9iT6

— Prairie Meadows (@prmracing) August 7, 2022

Ain't Life Grand will represent the first graded stakes starter for owner Ray Shattuck, who breeds and races under the RPM Thoroughbreds banner. The majority of the RPM horses run in Iowa, where Shattuck and his wife Peggy are members of the Prairie Meadows Hall of Fame.

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In stepping up to the Travers, Ain't Life Grand faces a list of heavy hitters that include probables Epicenter , Rich Strike , Charge It , Artorius , and Cyberknife . Zandon  and Early Voting, along with Skippylongstocking , are possible.

"We're very excited," Shattuck said. "We've always known that this horse wants to go further. We didn't necessarily want to run against the horses we're going to run against in the Travers. We know we're tackling the big boys now and it's going to be much tougher. We just like the distance, that's the main thing we're looking at. We've got a good horse. Is he grade 1 caliber? I guess we'll find out."

Ain't Life Grand is out of the Medaglia d'Oro   mare Cat d'Oro, a daughter of Edward P. Evans' Tale of the Cat mare Cat Moves. While Cat d'Oro was unraced, Cat Moves won the 2009 Prioress Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park for trainer Tony Dutrow, and was third in the Test Stakes (G1) at Saratoga in her next start. 

"We know that there's enough pedigree there that might support this, so we're going to try it," Shattuck said. "Win or lose, we don't have any other race coming up at the moment that we wanted to go into."

The Travers will mark the second start outside of Iowa for Ain't Life Grand, who comes in with five wins and two thirds from eight starts, with earnings of $399,833. Seven of those starts came at Prairie Meadows, where he won the Richard Radke Memorial Stakes and the Iowa Cradle Stakes during his juvenile campaign. His lone trip on the road resulted in a fourth while making his 3-year-old debut in the April 30 Bachelor Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

"This is the best horse I've ever owned—that's what we think, anyway. So we're going to find out," Shattuck said.