Saratoga Mischief Heads Saratoga Special

Trainer Todd Pletcher, who captured the first of three open graded races on the main track for 2-year-olds when Uncle Vinny was declared the winner of the July 25 Sanford Stakes (gr. III), will try for the middle jewel of the trio Aug. 16 when Twin Creeks Racing Stables' Saratoga Mischief takes on five others in the 110th edition of the $200,000 Saratoga Special (gr. II).

A bay son of Into Mischief   out of the Mr. Greeley mare Pacific Destiny, Saratoga Mischief gave Pletcher his first victory of the 2015 meet when he came from just off the pace to break his maiden at first asking earlier on July 25. Under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, Saratoga Mischief completed the 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.23.

"He came out of it well and we felt, rather than wait all the way to the Hopeful (gr. I, Sept. 7), we'd run him back here," said Pletcher, who went into Thursday's card atop the trainer standings with 19 wins. "We thought he had trained well. We weren't sure that he would go over there and win first time out. He was somewhat inconsistent in the mornings, but we had had some inconsistencies on the track surface the first part of the meet. He seems pretty focused out of the race. It was a pretty straightforward race. To his credit, he put himself in a good position."

Velazquez will be back aboard Saratoga Mischief, with the pair leaving from post 5.

Making his East Coast debut will be Keith Desormeaux trainee Exaggerator, who closed from seventh to score a nose victory July 25 at Del Mar in his second start. The Curlin   colt finished fifth, beaten 9 1/2 lengths, in his first outing in June, after falling behind early and taking dirt in his face.

"In his first start, he ran a little green, got dirt in his face at Santa Anita and didn't like it, and sort of veered around, but made a really nice move at the end and closed really well," said Desormeaux's assistant, Julie Clark. "Then he won his next out there. They're really happy with him. They really like him. It'll be a little test with shipping. They have to layover in Kentucky and then van up. We'll get a gallop over the surface and see what he's made of on Sunday."

Junior Alvarado will ride Exaggerator, who carries the colors of Big Chief Racing, from the rail.

John Q. Public, who broke his maiden July 5 at Ellis Park and next finished last of 10 in the Sanford after an eventful trip, returns with Luis Saez aboard. Trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, who won his first of three Saratoga Specials 30 years ago with Sovereign Don, the Proud Citizen   colt drew post position 4 with first-time Lasix.

Rounding out the field are three first-out winners from out of town: Terry Hamilton's Hammers Vision, a Canadian-bred who won for trainer Brian Lynch on the Belmont Park turf July 15; Live Oak Plantation's homebred colt Holding Gold, a winner on the synthetic surface July 19 at Woodbine; and Mid Life Crisis, a front-running winner at Delaware Park for owner Harold Lerner and trainer Graham Motion July 20.