Larkin Armstrong’s Harmonize hadn’t visited the winner’s circle since her up-in-time photo in last summer’s Del Mar Oaks (G1), but all she needed was a step up in trip to 1 3/8 miles for Saturday’s $200,000 Glens Falls (G3) at Saratoga.
In fact, the Bill Mott trainee was so happy with the added ground that she covered even more of it than the rest of the field. According to Trakus, Harmonize traversed 84 feet more than controlling speed Grateful, whom she edged by a neck at the wire. The winner was also conceding six pounds to the runner-up, so between the weight and ground loss, Harmonize was some way better than her bare margin implies.
Although enduring a wide trip for Hall of Famer John Velazquez, the 7-2 second choice at least kept within close range of the crawling Grateful. In contrast, 5-2 favorite War Flag was reserved farther back, leaving herself a real task when the serious running started.
Grateful had things her own way through pedestrian fractions of :25.53, :51.13, and 1:16.83 on the firm inner turf, and jockey Manny Franco ratcheted up the tempo to reach the mile in 1:40.57. The tracking Estrechada maintained her position at that point, but when Grateful threw in another rapid quarter, she began to get outkicked cornering for home.
Harmonize was able to match that turn of foot and took aim on the leader down the stretch. Drawing alongside Grateful, she reeled off her final eighth in about :11 3/5 to deny her. Harmonize stopped the teletimer in 2:15.59.
War Flag made late headway to grab third, 1 1/2 lengths astern of Grateful. Estrechada checked in fourth, followed by Lottie; Summersault; Sweet Sandy; Sarandia, the German filly who should have made use of her early speed instead of being held up; and Happyness.
Harmonize’s scorecard stands at 16-5-4-1, $827,860, reflecting scores in the 2015 Jessamine (G3) and P.G. Johnson at two as well as the Del Mar Oaks and Sanibel Island as a sophomore. The dark bay just missed in last October’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) at Keeneland, and her other 2016 placings include the Mrs. Revere (G2), Edgewood (G3), and Wonder Again. The four-year-old hadn’t hit the board this season, but she had finished fourth in the Royal Heroine (G2), Just a Game (G1), and the July 22 Diana (G1) last out.
Bred by Jack Swain III in Kentucky and sold for $80,000 as a Keeneland September yearling, Harmonize is by Scat Daddy and out of the winning Sky Mesa mare Mesa Fresca. This is a prolific family whose recent headliners are Keen Ice, Al Khali, Somali Lemonade, and Verrazano.
Quotes from Saratoga
Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott on Harmonize: “She’s been lacking a little closing turn of foot; we just thought she’s been grinding a little bit more than she has in the past. I started her at a mile and she closed but not with enough energy, I guess. Lady Eli outclassed her in the Diana and we had an option to go to California but I thought let’s try the mile and three(-eighths) and we’ll get firm ground. We stayed at home and it worked out for her.
“She had a wide trip. I was hoping we’d be laying second in the two-path and instead we were about fifth in the three-path. I wasn’t liking our position. You hate to be three turns and be three-wide. Everybody in the race probably ran less ground than she did. I’m glad she wasn’t three-and-a-half wide or she wouldn’t have won by that nose.”
Winning Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez: “I was happy with where I was. I tried to get her in front a little too soon (but) she waited, so it was a little tricky ride. When I got her to pass, he (Franco aboard Grateful) bumped me, so we were riding side by side, with him on the inside, but it all worked out in the end.”
Trainer Todd Pletcher on runner-up Grateful: “The horse ran very well. We got the trip we were hoping for. We just lost a tough head bob.”
