Breen has entered George and Lori Hall’s Boom Town Sally in the Opening Day feature, the 90th running of the Grade 3, $100,000-added Schuylerville for two-year-old fillies at six furlongs.
“I have the kind of problem that all trainers would like to have,” Breen said. “I have four two-year-old fillies, all owned by the Halls, and all of them have won. Now, I have plenty options and can keep them apart.
“I am hoping to bring Bold Union to Saratoga for either the Adirondack (August 13) or the Spinaway (August 31), and I still have races here at Monmouth like the Colleen (August 2) and the Sorority (August 31) for the others.
“The thing about Saratoga is that the competition is so tough. You have to make sure that your horses are doing well and can run with those other horses. I mean, you don’t want to look like an idiot because you brought a BB gun to a war.”
The weapon Breen selected for the Schuylerville, Boom Town Sally, is a daughter of Yes It’s True out of Gowestforgold, whose sire, Java Gold, won Saratoga’s 1987 Travers.
She debuted at Keeneland on April 10, finishing a distant fifth to Garden District. Garden District has since won the Grade 3 Debutante at Churchill Downs, and will likely run in the Adirondack.
“Garden District) is a really nice filly, but I know Boom Town Sally didn’t like the Polytrack at Keeneland,” Breen said. “I wouldn’t have brought her there if I didn’t think she could handle it, but sure enough, I got on her one morning myself and I realized that she didn’t like it. That’s not a great feeling – going all the way out of town to run and then coming back from the track and telling your owners she doesn’t like the track.”
Fortunately, Boom Town Sally redeemed herself on May 3, when she was an easy winner at Delaware Park.
“I know her (running) line in that races says `1-1-1-,’ but the truth is that she was sitting second on the backstretch for a bit," Breen said. "She was waiting for competition, and the race was over when Pablo (Morales, jockey) gave her the `go.’ He never turned his stick.”
The question now is can Boom Town Sally be effective in her first start at three-quarters of a mile and against salty company.
If Breen is suffering from a wealth of riches, trainer Juan Arias is aching to win a stakes race at Saratoga with Richard Rowan’s Renda. A former jockey, Arias had worked for trainers Richard Root in Florida and Wesley Ward in California before going out on his own about five years ago.
The 48-year-old native of Panama was so impressed with Renda’s five-length victory in her debut at Calder Race Course on May 3 that he sent her to Churchill Downs for the Debutante, where she was beaten two and three-quarter lengths by Garden District.
“Renda’s first race was good and she beat some pretty good fillies,” Arias said. “So, we went to Churchill, and she ran a great race. It was a great race because she broke slowly and was wide the whole trip. I mean, she was really wide and probably lost about 10 lengths. She was beaten less than three lengths.”
Javier Castellano, who won the last Grade 1 of Belmont Park’s Spring/Summer Meet on Saturday when he guided Music Note to an 11-length victory in the Coaching Club American Oaks, picks up the mount on Renda for the Schuylerville.
Renda is already at Saratoga, and Arias will fly up from Miami on Tuesday.
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, a six-time Schuylerville winner, has entered Robert and Leslie A. Hurley’s Cameron Crazies, a Lion Heart filly who will be making her first start outside of Kentucky.
Trainer Mike Hushion, who won this race in 1996 with How About Now, comes back with first-out winner Chartreux. A daughter 1997 King’s Bishop winner Tale of the Cat, Chartreux rallied from off the pace to win by a neck at Belmont Park on June 12.
Collegiate, a Saarland filly owned by Team Valor International, was a professional winner here on June 19. Edgar Prado accepts the call back for trainer Mark Hennig.
The field for Wednesday’s Grade 3 Schuylerville:
PP. HORSE TRAINER JOCKEY
1. Ocean Colors Steve Asmussen Shaun Bridgmohan
2. Mani Bhavan Steve Klesaris John Velazquez
3. Collegiate Mark Hennig Edgar Prado
4. Renda Juan Arias Javier Castellano
5. Chartreux Mike Hushion Channing Hill
6. Ouchy Night Tom Bush Kent Desormeaux
7. Mine All Mine Wesley Ward Elvis Trujillo
8. Boom Town Sally Kelly Breen Eibar Coa
9. Cameron Crazies D. Wayne Lukas Julien Leparoux
10. Girlfrienontheside Anthony Dutrow Cornelio Velasquez
11. Jardin Steve Asmussen Robby Albarado
All will carry 119 pounds.