Ain't Life Grand Shows He's Ready for Travers

Ain't Life Grand  lived up to his name Aug. 20 when he had his final tune-up for the $1.25 million Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course coming up Aug 27.

The Iowa-bred son of Not This Time   raised some eyebrows when he worked four furlongs in :45.88 on the main track after the break with exercise rider Tammy Fox, who is the partner of trainer Dale Romans, on board. Romans trained Not This Time.

"The track was playing a little faster than what it has been, so the time was a little quicker than we anticipated," trainer Kelly Von Hemel said outside Romans' barn on the backstretch, where Ain't Life Grand is staying. 

Ain't Life Grand will be the first Travers horse for Von Hemel, who is based at Prairie Meadows. But the Von Hemel family has some Travers history. His older brother, Donnie, saddled Clever Trevor to a second place finish in the 1989 Travers behind Easy Goer.

"We are taking a shot," Kelly Von Hemel, 57, said "We feel like he can run a mile and a quarter and we've got nothing to lose."

Ain't Life Grand has won five of eight career starts and the Travers will be his first try in a graded stakes race. His biggest win was the $300,000 Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows July 9.

Ain't Life Grand is owned by Ray and Peggy Shattuck's R P M Thoroughbreds. He is out of the unraced Medaglia d'Oro   mare Cat d'Oro .

Kelly Von Hemel last raced at Saratoga in 2008 when Miss Macy Sue , the dam of Not This Time, finished fourth in the Honorable Miss Handicap for the second straight year. He has a string of 30 horses at Prairie Meadows.

"We think we have a horse that can compete with these horses," Kelly Von Hemel said. "He is training good, he ran a huge race in the Iowa Derby and he's a fresh horse that we did not beat up in the spring time. Yes, it's a big jump from the Iowa Derby to here, but we're gonna do it."