Palace Malice, Verrazano to Breeze Sunday
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Belmont Stakes (gr. I) winner Palace Malice, who recently won the July 27 Jim Dandy Stakes (gr. II) for Dogwood Stable and trainer Todd Pletcher, will return to the worktab Aug. 11 for the first time since that victory at Saratoga Race Course.
The son of Curlin is 2-for-2 at Saratoga, where he also broke his maiden last year.
Also expected to drill at Saratoga that morning is Aug. 28 William Hill Haskell Invitational (gr. I) winner Verrazano, who took the Monmouth Park event for Let's Go Stable and Coolmore partners by 9 3/4 lengths. Verrazano, by More Than Ready , will make the Travers his Saratoga debut.
Meanwhile, trainer Eric Guillot said Southern Equine Stable's third-place Jim Dandy finisher Moreno will go six furlongs on the main track Aug. 10, what is planned to be his penultimate work before a run in the 1 1/4-mile Travers.
The gelded son of Ghostzapper needed 10 starts to break his maiden but then turned around and won the July 6 Dwyer (gr. II) at Belmont Park in eye-opening fashion, pulling away by seven lengths. In his most recent start, he made the pace before being overhauled by Palace Malice.
"He's good. He's better than he was before," Guillot said of Moreno. "He's going to have to be, right?"
Moreno went the first quarter-mile of the Jim Dandy in :24.06 and the half-mile in :47.48. Guillot hopes the horse can get a softer pace in the Travers.
"I think they're going to go 48 and change versus a 23-second second quarter; we're going to get 24 and change so we're going to have a little something left in the tank," he said. "A mile and a quarter versus a mile and an eighth. Inner fractions make the race, as we all know if we know anything about horse racing."