Whitney up next for Macho Again; Einstein to Arlington Million

Whitney up next for Macho Again; Einstein to Arlington

Million

Macho Again earned his first Grade 1 credit in the Foster (EquiSport Photos) Trainer Dallas Stewart was all smiles Sunday morning as he accepted congratulations on the victory by West Point Thoroughbreds' MACHO AGAIN (Macho Uno) in Saturday's Stephen Foster H. (G1) at Churchill Downs. "He just wanted to win yesterday," Stewart said of Macho Again. "He is a well-accomplished horse. He has won on fast and wet tracks and won at Saratoga, Fair Grounds and here. This ought to close a lot of talk about him being an in and out horse." Stewart was worried about the slow early pace in the Stephen Foster, which was similar to the pace Macho Again caught when he finished sixth in the Alysheba S. (G3) on the May 1 Kentucky Oaks (G1) undercard. "I thought the :48 half was a little slow for us. I thought they would go in :47," Stewart said. Macho Again won last year's Derby Trial at Churchill, a race that was followed by a runner-up finish to Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Big Brown in the Preakness (G1), the second jewel of the Triple Crown. The Stephen Foster victory was the gray four-year-old's first triumph against Grade 1 company and improved his career record to 6-4-0 in 18 races with earnings of $1,475,247.

Next up for Macho Again is the Whitney H. (G1) going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga

on August 8. Macho Again won the Jim Dandy S. (G2) last summer at Saratoga going

the same distance.

ASIATIC BOY (Arg) (Not for Sale), who finished a length behind Macho Again,

was scheduled to return to New York on Sunday along with stablemate FLORENTINO

(Jpn) (Swept Overboard), winner of Jefferson Cup (G2) on the Foster undercard

Saturday.

EINSTEIN (Brz) (Spend a Buck), who was going for racing history by becoming

the first horse to win three consecutive Grade 1 events on three surfaces, came

up a length and a nose short Saturday when finishing third after encountering

trouble throughout his 1 1/8-mile journey in the Stephen Foster.

"I just want the best for him and I really wanted him to get a Grade 1 win on

the dirt," trainer Helen Pitts-Blasi said of Einstein, who had won the Santa

Anita H. (G1) on the synthetic Pro-Ride surface and the Woodford Reserve Turf

Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs in his two prior starts.

The footnotes in the Foster chart told the story of Einstein's race under

Julien Leparoux: "Einstein bobbled at the start to get away a bit slow, checked

off heels near the seven-eighths marker, was bottled up between horses down the

backstretch and through the second turn, shifted out a bit and found a seam

entering the stretch, was bumped and stuffed behind rivals with three-sixteenths

to run, got through toward the inside late but was left with too much to do."

"It was just bad racing luck and he was much the best horse," Pitts-Blasi

said. "I'd like to get Horse of the Year with him and a race like this could

hurt him and it was not his fault."

Pitts-Blasi said Einstein came out of the race fine with the Arlington

Million (G1) next up on the radar on August 8.

"I am going to give him a little break with the Million as the next goal,"

Pitts-Blasi said. "The (September 6) Pacific Classic ([G1] at Del Mar) I'd

strongly consider because that would give us a month between the two races."

His difficult trip in the Stephen Foster left Einstein's career record at

11-3-3 in 26 races with earnings of $2,673,924.