Saratoga Maidens, Presented By Keeneland: Scratch It Was No Surprise To Her Connections

[Wandering Eyes]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There was no head scratching at the end of Friday's fourth race at Saratoga. At least not from the winners.

The $100,000 maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies went to the aptly named Scratch It (Tapit), who was virtually ignored at the windows. She was allowed to go off at 12-1 odds in the 1 1/8-mile race on the Inner Turf.

She was the second longest price on the board in the field of eight. At the end, Scratch It had gone gate-to-wire and won by a comfortable 1 1/4 lengths under jockey Manny Franco.

While many in the crowd were wondering how this happened, there was nothing but confident smiles–sort of–from the connections.

“A little bit,” Fergus Galvin, who owns the filly along with Mrs. M.V. Magnier and Linda Shanahan, said when he was asked if he was surprised. “But she had been training well–without outstanding. Brad had a hunch she would like the grass and she more than liked it.”

Brad is trainer Brad Cox and he had a sneaking suspicion that Scratch It might be able to do some good in this initial spot.

Last Saturday, at Churchill Downs, Scratch It worked five furlongs in 1:01 (12/51). Cox liked it.

“She worked well last week, and I thought, 'man, I need to run her,” Cox said. “And, that day, I just happened to see the race here and I marked it for her and thought to give her a shot.”

“There were a lot of well-bred fillies in there, too,” Galvin said. “When the entries came out, I said to Brad, 'this is one heckuva well-bred field but (Scratch It) is too.”

When Scratch It came to his barn, Cox wasn't sure if she was going to be pointed to turf or dirt. He went back and forth on that before deciding on the grass. Turns out it was the right call.

“She was fit,” Cox said. “She had three or four five-eighths underneath her. I figured if she was able to get close to the lead, she would be able to stay on and she did.”

Galvin spotted the filly at last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. The first impression Scratch It made was a good one. The more he looked, the more he liked.

When the hammer fell, he and his partners paid $490,00 for her.

“A beautiful filly,” Galvin said. “She was probably a little stronger than your usual Tapit… a bit stronger through her middle, just a classy filly. As you can see, I have some pretty good partners on her. I had to for the money she cost.”

When she was sent to Cox, he did not blink an eye at the price tag.

“We have enough of them,” he said with a laugh. “I've been doing enough over the last eight, nine, 10 years to be blessed with nice horses. I figured out awhile back it doesn't matter their price tag as to how good or bad they are, so I don't put a lot of stock into that.”

Scratch It was timed in 1:45.83 and paid $26.60, $9.80 and $6.30.

Cox said Scratch It could reappear at Saratoga in the $150,000 P.G. Johnson at 1 1/16 miles on Wednesday, Aug. 27 or he could send her to Kentucky Downs.

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