No Matter What Track’s Like, He Should Be Awesome Again

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Awesome Again won the Queen’s Plate at Woodbine, but there was a charge that his stablemate interfered with a rival and the outcome is under appeal.

Awesome Again won the Jim Dandy Stakes, but it was in the goo of Saratoga, and trainers of horses he defeated used the sloppy track as an excuse.

Awesome Again will try to win again in today’s $750,000 Travers, and his trainer, David Hofmans, isn’t sure whether he wants the track to be off or fast.

“It would be an advantage for us over the horses we beat last time if it was muddy again,” Hofmans said. “But I’d prefer a fast track because then the other horses wouldn’t have excuses. My horse could show that the last two wins weren’t a fluke.”

This is the 128th Travers, and August being part of upstate New York’s rainy season, about one out of three of the previous runnings have been over off tracks. Today looks like mud again for Awesome Again. There was a lot of rain Thursday, more Friday and the forecast is for scattered showers today.

Awesome Again, the 9-5 favorite on the morning line, has won three in a row, going undefeated since his debut, a third-place finish against maidens at Hollywood Park on May 25.

“Awesome Again’s a nice horse,” said Jim Bond, who trains Behrens, undefeated before his fourth-place finish in the Jim Dandy on Aug. 3. “The way he’s training, you have to like that horse a lot. He’s not [Hofmans’] ‘B’ horse. He’s an ‘A’ horse.”

Hofmans’ certified “A” horse, Touch Gold, was sent home to California early this week, for more repairs to a cracked hoof that has been bothersome since he stumbled out of the gate in the Preakness. As it turns out, Touch Gold wouldn’t have run here even if the patched hoof had held up. Hofmans wasn’t going to use him on a wet track.

Hofmans said that Touch Gold’s left front hoof will be repatched today and he’ll return to the track for training at Hollywood Park on Sunday. His next race may be the $1-million Pegasus at the Meadowlands in New Jersey next month. Because of the problem hoof, the Belmont Stakes winner would appear to be an iffy proposition in any race he runs, but Hofmans thinks otherwise.

“We’ve got to the bottom of the foot,” the trainer said. “He’s going to be all right.”

Both Touch Gold and Awesome Again are owned by Frank Stronach, the Canadian industrialist. In only four starts, Awesome Again has gained ground rapidly on Silver Charm, who won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, and Free House, the Santa Anita Derby and Swaps winner who was a factor in all three Triple Crown races.

“Touch Gold beat Silver Charm and Free House,” Hofmans said. “Awesome Again needs to face those kinds of horses before he can move into their class. Another couple of wins and he’ll be a bona fide racehorse, the kind you’re not afraid of running against anybody.”

In the 1 1/4-mile Travers, Awesome Again will be racing seven other 3-year-olds that skipped the Triple Crown. Behrens is 5-2, the second choice on the morning line. Deputy Commander, a distant second to Free House in the Swaps and winner of the Affirmed Handicap at Hollywood Park, is 4-1. The other starters will be Blazing Sword, Twin Spires, Affirmed Success, Cryptocloser and Affairwithpeaches.

Awesome Again and Touch Gold won’t run together, unless it’s in the $4-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Hollywood Park on Nov. 8.

“We’d like to have a Stronach entry in the Breeders’ Cup,” Hofmans said. “Then we’ll try to run down Gentlemen.”

Winner of the Pacific Classic at Del Mar in his last start, Gentlemen would be favored if the Breeders’ Cup were run today.

Awesome Again worked five furlongs here in 1:02 a week ago.

“I think he’s peaking,” Hofmans said. “He was still green in his last race. But that last workout showed me something. He was more focused. He’s no longer the little kid. He knows what he’s here for now.”

Sounds as if Darla Elliott, one of Hofmans’ assistants, will have to come up with a different nickname for Awesome Again. Until now, he’s been “Tony the Pony” around the barn.

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In another stake for 3-year-olds at Saratoga today, Tale Of The Cat and Trafalgar are featured in the $150,000 King’s Bishop. . . . At Monmouth Park, Skip Away will carry 124 pounds, three more than Formal Gold, in the $250,000 Iselin Handicap. The only other horses entered are Distorted Humor and Foolish Pole.

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Travers Field

Horse, Jockey Odds

Blazing Sword, Gary Boulanger 15-1

Behrens, Jerry Bailey 5-2

Twin Spires, Joe Bravo 20-1

Deputy Commander, Chris McCarron 4-1

Affirmed Success, Jorge Chavez 5-1

Awesome Again, Mike Smith 9-5

Cryptocloser, Chris Antley 8-1

Affairwithpeaches, Richard Migliore 30-1

All will carry 126 pounds.