Saratoga Notes: Garcia, McLaughlin take crowns

SARATOGA SPRINGS — In the end, it really didn’t matter that Alan Garcia clinched the Saratoga Race Course riding title on a horse trained by someone other than

Kiaran McLaughlin.

The two were so intertwined for the entire grueling meet that they carried each other along to the first meet championship, at any track, for both.

It came down to the final few races, as Garcia rode the Bobby Frankel-trained long shot Vineyard Haven to victory in the Hopeful on Monday, Garcia’s fourth Grade I of the meet.

The Hopeful result also allowed McLaughlin to clinch the training title outright, over his good friend Todd Pletcher, whose Munnings ran in the Hopeful but lost, leaving Pletcher with 15 wins to 17 for McLaughlin. It was Garcia’s 39th winner, to 36 for John Velazquez, who was on Munnings.

“It’s just fabulous, because we’ve never really been in the running to win any training title,” McLaughlin said. “To win our first one at Saratoga is fabulous, where everybody’s watching and everybody wants to win. We’ve had a great meet.

“Alan’s had a great meet, Todd had a great meet, it’s just the way it worked out for us. I’m just glad the meet’s ended today, because Kimmel might’ve gone by both of us, the way he’s going.”

John Kimmel won the second and third races, completing a string of victories from seven straight starters.

McLaughlin got a little bit of a cushion when Cobblestone Way, one of two starters he had on the card, won the sixth race, with Garcia aboard.

Pletcher was 0-for-4 on the card.

The McLaughlin barn really kicked into gear on Travers Day, Aug. 23. He had three winners, Aquino, Big Stick and Shakis in the Bernard Baruch, one of two Grade II’s he won at the meet. Garcia was on all three of those, too.

“I did expect to do well,” McLaughlin said. “We have a lot of nice horses up here, and things went well. The 2-year-olds,

obviously, helped out a lot. We knew we had some nice ones.

“[We got hot] right around Travers time. We always pull for each other. That’s the nice thing, so we know how each one is doing, anyway. A lot of guys want to knock the guy on top, but Todd and I are close, and I’m always pulling for him.

I guess I’ll buy dinner this time.”

McLaughlin and Pletcher, who has won six Saratoga titles and holds the single-meet record with 35, which he’s done twice, were assistants together with D. Wayne Lukas for three years.

McLaughlin’s other Grade II winner was Abraaj, in the A.G. Vanderbilt. Abraaj and Shakis, who might run against Big Brown in the Monmouth Stakes on Sept. 13, are owned by Shadwell Stable.

Garcia’s collection of Grade I’s included the Hopeful, the Spinaway (Mani Bhavan), King’s Bishop (Visionaire) and Sword Dancer (Grand Couturier). He had five winners on Travers Day, including the Bernard Baruch, and also won the Grade II Adirondack on Mani Bhavan.

The 22-year-old Peruvian, who won the Belmont on Da’ Tara, is a rising star in New York, helped by the fact that he rides most of McLaughlin’s good stakes horses.

He was supposed to ride Alaazo in the Pennsylvania Derby on Monday, but his agent, Tony Micaleff, was able to wiggle out of that commitment so Garcia could stay at Saratoga and hold off Velazquez. As it turned out, he could have gone to Philadelphia Park and still won the jockey title by one.

“It means a lot for my career,” Garcia said. “I had good horses, and kept working hard. I’m so happy.”

“I’m happy for Alan, it’s quite a way to top off a great meet,” McLaughlin said. “He’s just a great kid, he’s a great rider with a great attitude, and he does everything right. He has a great future ahead of him.”

Ken and Sarah Ramsey won the most races among owners, with 12. Darley Stable and Wesley Ward had seven each.

CUSANO GETS 100

Gazette handicappers Mark

Cusano and Bill Heller finished with 100 and 94 winning selections, respectively.

On Monday, Cusano picked Bartletts in the first ($7.80, $21.40 exacta); Cobblestone Way in the sixth ($6.40); and Iron Curtain in the seventh ($5.80, $23.40 exacta, $18.40 rolling double).

His record for the meet was

100-for-359 (28 percent).

Heller picked Iron Curtain, and had the second-race trifecta box ($51.00) and superfecta box ($320.00).

BENZEL WINS FIRST

Sunday’s opener marked the first victory for trainer Seth Benzel, the former Pletcher assistant who started his own stable on May 1.

Ya Think, a 3-year-old Broken Vow colt, led from gate to wire, outrunning 53-1 long shot Carry On the Dream in the final sixteenth to win by three-quarters of a length.

Second choice in a field of 12 at odds of 3-1, Ya Think ($8.30) is owned by David Moore’s Edgewood Farm and was ridden by Eibar Coa. Benzel and Edgewood made it a daily double, winning the fifth race with Walkabout Winner ($9.40). Velazquez was aboard.

“It’s been a long journey, and we had to battle for it, but I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Benzel said. “This game makes you deserve it, so at the end of the day, when you saddle a winner, you really feel like you’ve done something. We’re thankful.”

Benzel, 33, worked the past six years for six-time Saratoga training champion and four-time defending Eclipse Award winner Pletcher. He was 0-for-14 with two seconds and four thirds at the meet, and 0-for-25 overall since going out on his own.

Equineline listed the winners as the ninth and 10th of Benzel’s career, who was the trainer of record while Pletcher served a 45-day suspension in 2007.

“Believe me, it feels like a lot of weight off my shoulders, for sure,” Benzel said. “There’s no doubt that this is a special place for me.”