Sargent Seattle seeks Saratoga Special

SARGENT SEATTLE (Vindication), an eye-catching 6 1/2-length maiden winner in

his debut on opening day, returns in Thursday's $150,000 Saratoga Special S.

(G2). The dark bay colt dueled for the early lead, then drew off in the stretch,

winning the 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight race in 1:03 2/5, which nearly

eclipsed the track record.

Owned by E. Paul Robsham Stables and trained by Stanley Hough, Sargent

Seattle immediately drew comparisons to Grade 1 winner Discreet Cat (Forestry),

who won his debut as a juvenile for the same connections at the Spa two summers

ago and was subsequently sold to Godolphin.

"I don't see any excuses here; he came out of his race in good shape and has

worked well since," said Hough about Sargent Seattle. "He ran better than I had

hoped. He's got some talent. Now, we need to see what the next level brings.

It's going to be interesting."

Sargent Seattle, a $475,000 yearling purchase, will be challenged by six

two-year-olds in the 6 1/2-furlong Saratoga Special, including THE ROUNDHOUSE

(Fusaichi Pegasus), a half-brother to last year's Hopeful S. (G1) winner

Circular Quay (Thunder Gulch).

Trained by Todd Pletcher, The Roundhouse is coming off a late-running,

third-place effort to stablemate Ready's Image (More Than Ready) in the Sanford

S. (G2) three weeks ago. Pletcher will have just one entrant in the Saratoga

Special, a race he has yet to win.

"I'm trying to keep some of these colts separated," Pletcher said. "I don't

think waiting around and waiting to run against Ready's Image again was as good

of a plan as being the only stable representative in the Saratoga Special."

Pletcher implied that Ready's Image was being held back for the Hopeful S.

(G1) on Labor Day. He said The Roundhouse may have been compromised by a

troubled trip in the Sanford.

"He had some traffic issues around the far turn," Pletcher said. "The horse

on the inside bumped him three or four times. That probably cost him second."

Prior to the Sanford, The Roundhouse closed stoutly to win going away at Monmouth Park.

KODIAK KOWBOY (Posse), who has been traveling back and forth between Woodbine

and Churchill Downs, has won three of four starts for conditioner Steve Asmussen.

The bay colt broke his maiden at Churchill, captured the Victoria S. on

Polytrack at Woodbine, then returned to Louisville, Kentucky, to win the six-furlong Bashford Manor S. (G3) in a sharp 1:09.

"If anything, his last race was impressive," Asmussen said.

The Saratoga Special also includes a trio of interesting first-out maiden

winners -- RILEY TUCKER (Harlan's Holiday), MAKE THE POINT (Menifee) and BETATRON (Tale of the Cat).

The field for the 102nd running of the Saratoga Special, in post position

order with jockeys, consists of Kodiak Kowboy, Shaun Bridgmohan; Betatron,

Julien Leparoux; Sargent Seattle, Javier Castellano; Make the Point, Ramon

Dominguez; Riley Tucker, Edgar Prado; LITTLE NICK (Tiger Ridge), Kent Desormeaux;

and The Roundhouse, Garrett Gomez.

Kodiak Kowboy will shoulder top weight of 122 pounds, the rest will carry

118.