Pipsy leads Intercontinental rematch in G3 Caress

Woodford Thoroughbreds’ Pipsy leads a competitive renewal of the Grade 3, $175,000 Caress as the top-five finishers of the Grade 2 Intercontinental will line up once again in Saturday’s 5 1/2-furlong Mellon turf sprint for older fillies and mares at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Will Walden, Pipsy earned the second graded victory of her career last out when wiring the 5 1/2-furlong Intercontinental on June 5 at the Spa, taking command early under Jose Ortiz and bravely turning back a host of pursuers in the lane to score by a half-length over Future Is Now. She earned a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure, tied for the second-best figure in the field.

“That was a good group of fillies she beat, and when you’re going against that caliber of fillies, you’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game every time,” Walden said. “We’re confident Pipsy will bring hers, but it is Saratoga and it’s a tough place to win races. We couldn’t be happier with the way she’s doing.”

While Pipsy set the pace last time, she was a stalking winner of a 5 1/2-furlong allowance in April at Keeneland when coming from 1 1/2 lengths back to post the two-length score over Bling.

“She trained over in Europe, and that’s how they’re trained to rate – behind horses – so if you try to sit head-and-head with them, she’s going to be keen and aggressive. You saw in that race at Keeneland that she tucked in behind a filly from the outside post that came and crossed over in front of her. As soon as she did that, she [Pipsy] shut right off, and that was a new dimension we didn’t realize she had. We think she’s very versatile.”

Walden added the 4-year-old Kodiac bay has trained professionally into her next challenge.

“She’s pretty straightforward to train, and she does a maintenance half every week. She goes early, has her little routine, and if horses could dapple out on their ears, she’d have them there, too,” Walden said, with a laugh. “I love the way she’s coming into this. We know she loves the turf course here and we’re confident.” 

Pipsy, who made the grade as a sophomore in the Grade 3 Soaring Softly at Belmont at the Big A, will emerge from post 6 in rein to Ortiz.

The Estate of R. Larry Johnson’s Future Is Now [post 7, Paco Lopez] looks to turn the tables on Pipsy after her hard-fought second in the Intercontinental, a race she won last year by a head over Roses for Debra.

Trained by Michael Trombetta, the Great Notion mare holds a consistent 4-2-1-1 record at the Spa, led by her wins in the Intercontinental and Listed Smart N Fancy last year. She also finished a half-length third in this event last year behind Dontlookbackatall.

"She seems to appreciate that course. When they run good at a particular place, you just stick with it,” Trombetta said. “It's the same with Keeneland, she seems to enjoy that course as well.

"She's got some quality to her and she's a very determined kind of horse,” he added. “She tries hard and those kinds of horses are hard to find."

In the Intercontinental, Future Is Now reverted back to stalking tactics after a pacesetting win in the Grade 3 Giant’s Causeway in April at Keeneland. She sat 1 1/2 lengths behind Pipsy through the first quarter-mile before running up on heels at the half-mile call and taking up a bit before settling again to make her late bid.

Trombetta said he was pleased with the performance.

“It was a good effort. We didn't get the exact result that we would have liked, but she ran a really good race,” Trombetta said. “I don't know whether it was the course or seeing something she hadn't seen before that distracted her, but she's trained well since and we're looking forward to coming back."

Bred in Maryland by the late R. Larry Johnson, Future Is Now boasts a 16-8-2-1 record with $788,410 in total purse earnings.

Martin Schwartz and Michael O’Callaghan’s Kairyu completed the trifecta in the Intercontinental, landing 1 1/4 lengths behind Pipsy and three-quarter lengths back of Future Is Now in her first effort off a nearly eight-month layoff. She tracked in second under Flavien Prat and showed good energy as she vied for command at the stretch call, but was ultimately outkicked and settled for the minor awards for trainer Cherie DeVaux.

“She’s doing great and is training well. It was a good effort off the layoff and she’s had plenty of time to get over it,” DeVaux said. “She took the jump forward from three to four and she’s doing everything she’s supposed to do.”

The 4-year-old Kuroshio filly put together a respectable sophomore campaign with a pair of stakes seconds in four outings, landing a half-length back of Pipsy in the Soaring Softly and three-quarter-lengths behind returning rival Twirling Queen in the Listed Coronation Cup in July over course and distance.

Kairyu, a Group 3-winner in her native Ireland, will emerge from post 4 in rein to Kendrick Carmouche.

Tracy Farmer’s Time to Dazzle [post 8, Dylan Davis] exits a fourth in the Intercontinental, an effort that awarded her a career-best 91 Beyer. Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, the daughter of Not This Time rallied from off-the-pace to finish a nose back of Kairyu in her first effort at this distance.

The 4-year-old gray looks to add to previous graded success in Woodbine Racetrack’s one-mile Grade 3 Ontario Colleen last July, which marked her most recent win. Her best result since was a one-length second to On Command in the six-furlong Listed License Fee in May at Belmont at the Big A.

Completing the field are multiple graded stakes-placed and Intercontinental fifth-place finisher Pandora’s Gift [post 5, Joel Rosario] for trainer Miguel Clement; graded stakes-winners Toupie [post 1, Manny Franco] for trainer Graham Motion and Zeitlos [post 2, Junior Alvarado] for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen; and the pair of multiple stakes-winning and Intercontinental ninth-place finisher Twirling Queen [post 3, Emisael Jaramillo] and four-time-winner and stakes-debuting Obstreperous [post 9, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] for conditioner Jose D’Angelo.

Halina’s Forte, Little Prankster and the aptly-named Caress are entered for the main track-only.

The Caress is slated as Race 9 on Saturday’s 12-race program, which features the Grade 1, $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks in Race 10 and the Grade 2, $400,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt in Race 11. First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern. 

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