Stronach Stables' Shaman Ghost (Ghostzapper) emerged from his 9-1 upset win in Saturday's GI Woodward S. at Saratoga in good order, trainer Jimmy Jerkens reported Sunday morning. The bay earned the first Grade I victory of his career and received a career-top Beyer Speed Figure of 106 for the effort.
“He's fine, he walked good this morning,” said Jerkens of the 2015 Queen's Plate winner. “It was good to see him throw in a good mile and an eighth yesterday, because it is different from the other big races that he's won.”
Shaman Ghost's Queen's Plate win came at 10 furlongs, and he added a win in the 1 1/2-mile GII Brooklyn S. to his resume in June. Jerkens said that the homebred could make his next start in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Oct. 8–a 1 1/4-mile “Win and You're In” qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Nov. 5.
“It's not definite, but we would have to consider it for sure,” the trainer said of the Gold Cup. “It's the next logical step–the big purse that it is, plus the mile and a quarter. Distance isn't a problem for him so long as he gets in a nice rhythm the whole way.”
Shaman Ghost will likely be joined in the Jockey Club Gold Cup starting gate by Mubtaahij (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), a gritty runner-up in the Woodward for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin.
“Mubtaahij ran great, he ran 43 feet further than the winner,” McLaughlin said. “He wants the mile and a quarter at Belmont so he'll run back.”
McLaughlin added that Frosted (Tapit)–a close third as the favorite in the Woodward–was also doing well Sunday morning in the aftermath of his wide-running trip. The conditioner said he was not disappointed in Frosted's effort, in which he could not get past Shaman Ghost and Mubtaahij in deep stretch under a steady hand ride from jockey Joel Rosario.
“He carried six more pounds than Mubtaahij, four more pounds than the winner and ran 40 feet further than the winner. So we feel like he was the best horse, but it's horse racing–he got beat…He didn't break sharp and that changed everything. He doesn't like the whip so that's why [Rosario] didn't hit him. A lot of people were probably wondering why, but he doesn't like the whip.”
McLaughlin said that he does not have any concrete plans for Frosted's next start. The 4-year-old has already earned berths in both the Breeders' Cup Classic and the GI Las Vegas Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile by virtue of his respective scores in the Aug. 6 GI Whitney S. and the June 11 GI Met Mile H.
Sweet Loretta (Tapit) and Pretty City Dancer (Tapit), commonly sired co-winners of the GI Spinaway S. in a dead heat, both were in fine condition Sunday morning, according to their trainers. The former, who ran her record to three-for-three after surviving a jockey's objection and stewards' inquiry into the stretch run of the race, pleased trainer Todd Pletcher with her performance Saturday.
“She's handled each step up in class and stretch out in distance,” Pletcher said. “She was getting a little bit tired at the end of the race, but that was to be expected. She was stalking some fairly solid fractions. We've always been optimistic that she'll continue to stretch out.”
Meanwhile, Team Casse confirmed that Pretty City Dancer will try two turns in her next start, scheduled to be Keeneland's GI Darley Alcibiades going 1 1/16 miles Oct. 7.
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