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Blame headed for Whitney off Foster score BLAME (Arch) came out of his three-quarter length score in Saturday's nine-furlong Stephen Foster H. (G1) well and got to spend an extra day at Churchill Downs on Sunday as his Keeneland workmate Apart (Flatter) was entered in Sunday's 8TH race. Apart finished second by 2 3/4 lengths in that 1 1/16-mile allowance. "They will both go back to Keeneland on Monday," trainer Al Stall Jr. said Sunday morning as he watched Blame walk the shedrow at Barn 47. The four-year-old rallied to overcome a four-length deficit on BATTLE PLAN (Empire Maker) to win the Stephen Foster and give Stall his second Grade 1 victory at Churchill Downs. Joyeux Danseur won the Turf Classic for Stall in 1998 under the Twin Spires. "He overcame a slow pace and a bad post (11) yesterday," Stall said of Blame, now a winner of seven of 10 starts. "There was only mild pressure on the leader (Battle Plan), but he started to bear down and when Battle Plan switched leads at the eighth-pole, I figured that was it." Stall said he was not sure how long he would keep Blame at Keeneland before shipping to Saratoga, where the next objective for Blame is the $750,000 Whitney H. (G1) going 1 1/8 miles on August 7. "Right now, we are just thinking about the Whitney," Stall said. "It is tough to run two races like that at Saratoga (with the Woodward [G1] on September 4 being the other). You can throw the Hawthorne Gold Cup (G2) into the mix. That's a mile and a quarter on the same day (October 2) as the Jockey Club Gold Cup ([G1] at Belmont Park) and we could ship up from Keeneland and back and that sets you up for November (and the Breeders' Cup on November 6 at Churchill Downs)." Despite the Stephen Foster victory, Stall found out that Blame was not the big story of Saturday. "A friend of mine on the East Coast sent me a text saying that I win a Grade 1, but Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro) is on the cover of Monday's Daily Racing Form," Stall said. Trainer Todd Pletcher flew into Louisville, Kentucky, from New York shortly before noon on Saturday and was headed back to the Big Apple before noon Sunday. In that time span, his horses won three races at Churchill Downs, including two stakes, and the trainer also picked up his trophy for winning the Kentucky Derby (G1) with Super Saver (Maria's Mon). So, on a scale of one to 10, how did the brief stay in Louisville rate? "It was a nine," Pletcher said with a laugh. "If Battle Plan wins the Stephen Foster it is a 10. It was just about perfect." In his first Grade 1 test, Battle Plan surrendered late to Blame to have his four-race win streak snapped. "I thought he gave a big effort yesterday for his first race over the surface," Pletcher said. "The track had dried out a bit from earlier in the day and it was a bit cuppier. At the five-sixteenths pole, (jockey) Javier (Castellano) asked him for a bit more and the ground broke out from under him." Pletcher said that Battle Plan would return to New York on Wednesday and a schedule would be mapped out to keep Battle Plan and stable star Quality Road (Elusive Quality) on separate paths. Owner-trainer Tom McCarthy said that third-place Stephen Foster finisher GENERAL QUARTERS (Sky Mesa) remains on track for a return to the turf this summer at Arlington Park. "That's the plan right now," McCarthy said of the July 17 Arlington H. (G3) and the Arlington Million (G1) on August 21. McCarthy added that General Quarters was affected by the heat Saturday. "(Jockey) Alex (Solis) said the heat got him at the sixteenth pole," McCarthy explained. "He always finishes up well, but he got back here and ate all his supper last night and his breakfast this morning." Drew Coontz, assistant to trainer Chris Block, said that GIANT OAK (Giant's Causeway) would head back to Arlington Park on Wednesday following his fourth in the Stephen Foster. "He's fine this morning," Coontz said of Giant Oak, who finished 4 1/2 lengths behind Blame. "He ran great for the company he was with." DEMARCATION (Gulch), fifth in the Stephen Foster, and WORLDLY (A.P. Indy), runner-up in the Northern Dancer S. (G3), were both doing well Sunday morning, according to conditioner Paul McGee. "I was pretty happy with him and so were the owners (Mr. and Mrs. John Amerman of Amerman Racing Stables)," McGee said of Demarcation, who was a head behind Giant Oak. "He ran well in the Clark (G2) here last fall, beaten only 6 1/2 lengths, but he is just a cut below those horses." McGee is not sure when Worldly, beaten a neck by Colizeo (Distorted Humor) in the Northern Dancer, would run next. "I will be running quite a bit at Arlington Park, but I would prefer to keep him on dirt rather than the Polytrack," McGee said.
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