Played Hard Gets Serious in Saratoga Work

It has been a little bit of a rocky road for trainer Phil Bauer's 5-year-old mare Played Hard .

First, the daughter of Into Mischief   missed the Shuvee Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course after spiking a temperature. Bauer has been pointing Played Hard to the $500,000 Personal Ensign (G1) at the Spa on Aug. 25.

Last week, Played Hard's work had to be aborted when a rider on another horse on the main track fell near the wire and Bauer's horse and exercise rider Santos Rivera had to pull up at the eighth-pole.

On Aug. 10, things got back to normal as Played Hard and Santos worked five furlongs in 1:00.05. She was working with stablemate Warrior Johny , a 4-year-old gelding who got the distance in 1:01.14.

"We intended the breeze today to be a serious one," Bauer said while watching Played Hard cool out at his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. "I needed to figure out where we were after the missed time last week."

Bauer figured this work would determine whether or not he felt Played Hard would remain on target for the Personal Ensign.

"I think so," Bauer said. "I will talk with the owners (Richard and Tammy Rigney), send them a video of the work, and we'll go from there. I think we got plenty out of this."

Bauer said he wanted Played Hard to have to work hard and that's why he put her with Warrior Johny.

"We set her off a good horse that we knew could work well," Bauer said. "We needed to get a gauge on her fitness level. She is doing great."

Played Hard has won six of 16 career starts. This year, she won the La Troienne Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs on May 5 and then was third in the Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont Park on June 10.

In the Phipps, Played Hard could not hold off the hard charge of Clairiere , who won the race. 

Bauer was hoping for a big effort in the Shuvee, which was won by Nest . Then, Played Hard's temperature spiked.

"It was disappointing, especially the way the race was setting up with her being the controlling pace," he said. "It's always dejecting when plans don't go to fruition, but it's horse racing and it seems like there is always a moving target. We have a lot of year ahead of us."