Sanford J

AMERICAN

GRADED STAKES PREVIEWS

Saratoga's $150,000 Sanford S. (G2) looks wide open on Thursday. Unbeaten DAGNABIT

(Freud) is the only entrant with stakes experience, winning the June 29 Tremont

S. by a half-length at Belmont Park for trainer Richard Dutrow, but he earned

only an 84 BRIS Speed rating for that effort. We'll give NOTONTHESAMEPAGE

(Catienus) top billing.

Trained by Wesley Ward, the chestnut colt finished third when making his

career bow over Polytrack at Keeneland, but rebounded with a superb showing at

Churchill Downs last time out, romping by three lengths in a 4 1/2-furlong

maiden special weight event. Notonthesamepage registered a whopping 107 Speed

rating and a 103 BRIS E2 Pace rating for the front-running effort, and he's

trained extremely forwardly since then, recording three straight bullet works,

including a five-furlong bullet in :58 2/5 at Saratoga last week. He'll pick up

the services of the up-and-coming Elvis Trujillo, and we'll look for him to lead

wire-to-wire.

BULLION CACHE (Seeking the Gold) exits a good-looking maiden score at

Churchill for Todd Pletcher and looks like a threat to make his presence felt in

this spot. Out of the precocious mare Cash Deal (Danzig), Bullion Cache needed a

race before capturing his second career start, and he'll probably appreciate the

stretch out to three-quarters of a mile off that five-furlong event. He's shown

good tactical speed in both starts, and the bay will likely be forwardly placed

under John Velazquez.

Dagnabit kicked it in late to win the Tremont, and the New York-bred should

get plenty of pace to run at in this spot. He's had a couple of works over the

Oklahoma training track in preparation, and Cornelio Velasquez will retain the

mount on the promising youngster. We won't be shocked to see him come charging

in the stretch for the victory, but we'll tab him only for a minor award.

OFFICER IPOD (Officer) was a good-looking debut winner at Delaware Park last

out for Tony Dutrow. Favored at 3-5, the word was out on him that afternoon, and

the gray colt returned to the worktab with a sharp five-furlong move 2 1/2 weeks

later. Officer Ipod will likely offer some value, and we'll use the

precocious-looking juvenile in the exotics.

DESERT PARTY (Street Cry [Ire]), a $2.1 million purchase earlier this year,

exits a debut victory over the Polytrack at Arlington. He didn't run very fast

that afternoon but was visually impressive while drawing off to a 3 3/4-length

victory. How that translates to dirt is a big unknown, but Street Cry is an

extremely versatile sire. Desert Party led wire-to-wire last time, but we'll

look for him to revert to rating tactics here for conditioner Eoin Harty.

Consider for the top three.

VINEYARD HAVEN (Lido Palace [Chi]) was sold off a 4 1/4-length debut score at

Calder on June 28, and the gray colt received an excellent 98 Speed rating in

that 5 1/2-furlong event. Trainer Bobby Frankel has been known to move up horses

transferring to his care, so Vineyard Haven can not be easily dismissed despite

the class hike.

PHOSPHORESCENT (Rock Slide) won at first asking for Dale Romans last time,

but he didn't run very fast (84 Speed rating). We'll give him a race versus

winners.