Saratoga Notebook, Presented by NYRA Bets: Iron Orchard Skipping Adirondack, Waiting for Race Later in Meet

Wandering Eyes · 2025-08-02T22:55:24Z

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There was never really any thought about running Iron Orchard (Authentic) in Sunday's GIII, $175,000 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

Trainer Danny Gargan said Saturday that Iron Orchard, the 5-2 second choice on the Adirondack morning line, will stay in the barn on Sunday.

“I didn't really train her for this race,” Gargan said Saturday morning outside his barn on the Saratoga backstretch. “I wasn't going to enter at all and (owners) said let's enter and look at it and then decided to wait.”

Iron Orchard, owned by Edward Childs and Randy Hill's R.A. Hill Stable, broke her maiden by 5 1/2 lengths at Saratoga on July 3. It would have been a much larger margin if Joel Rosario had not stepped on the brakes down the Spa stretch.

The New York-bred will instead be pointed to the six-furlong, $150,000 Seeking the Ante for state-breds on Aug. 22.

“The owners want to run against New York-breds and I think they are making the right decision,” Gargan said. “She is very talented, a real nice horse, but I am in no hurry. We have all year. There is no rush. I want to do what is right by her. She only had on work, you noticed that, right?”

Since blitzing that maiden field in early July, Lady Orchard worked July 25, a four-furlong breeze on the main track in :48.83 (24/60).

Gargan said he has been training Lady Orchard with the idea that the Seeking the Ante would be her next visit to the races. As for the Adirondack, well, that point is now moot.

“I didn't want to throw (stuff) on the wall and watch it slide down when I don't think I have her fit enough to go 6 1/2 (furlongs, Adirondack distance),” Gargan said. “She galloped in her first race and now I would have to go 6 1/2 off one breeze? It's not a smart thing to do.”

Gargan is very high on the future for Lady Orchard. If all goes well after the Seeking the Ante, Gargan said the next stop would be the GI, $400,000 Frizette Stakes at Aqueduct on Oct. 4.

“She is a super talented horse, we think,” Gargan said. “Why run when you're not ready?”

Donegal Momentum Pointing to Bernard Baruch

When last seen on the racetrack, 'TDN Rising Star' Donegal Momentum (Uncle Mo) was putting his connections through an emotional wringer.

The 4-year-old avoided a catastrophic incident and showed his athleticism during the GIII Kelso Stakes on the Inner Turf Course. A bad step. A near stumble. Almost went down. But he recovered and miraculously finished the race.

Donegal Momentum racing near the lead in Kelso Stakes

Donegal Momentum | Sarah Andrew

Flash forward nearly a month and Donegal Momentum is preparing to return to the races. Trainer Tom Morley reported Saturday that his colt is doing fine and being pointed to the $150,000 Bernard Baruch, a 1 1/16-mile race on the grass.

Donegal Momentum is prepping for the Baruch at Belmont Park. He had his first work since the Kelso incident on July 30, going four furlongs in :49.78 (18/43) on the dirt. Morley said Donegal Momentum, owned by Donegal Racing, will stay at Belmont and work there before shipping up to Saratoga for the race.

It's the same routine he followed when Donegal Momentum won the GIII Poker Stakes at Saratoga on June 5. He trained at Belmont and then was vanned upstate.

“I am happy with him, he is doing really well at Belmont,” Morley said at his barn on the Saratoga backstretch Saturday morning. “He had a pulled hamstring out of the Kelso and that has settled down. He really is a tough horse. I sent him back home because we executed the Poker going that way. That is his home environment.”

Donegal Momentum has won two of five starts this year.

Thorpedo Anna Back on the Work Tab

'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna), the 2024 Horse of the Year, had her first Saratoga work of 2025 this week.

Trainer Kenny McPeek put her through a four-furlong work last Tuesday on the Oklahoma Training Track. She went in :50.60 (19/21) in her first work since June 26.

“It was a nice half mile,” McPeek said at his office at his barn at the annex across from the Oklahoma Saturday morning. “Easy enough, a nice strong gallop. She is strong.”

McPeek is pointing Thorpedo Anna to the GI Personal Ensign at the Spa on Aug. 23, Travers Day. She ran on Travers Day last year and finished second behind Fierceness (City of Light) in the Midsummer Derby. Thorpedo Anna is owned by Brookdale Racing Inc., Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks and Magdalena Racing (Sherri McPeek).

She was originally supposed to work on Sunday, but bad weather forced him to call an audible.

Mystik Dan | Sarah Andrew

McPeek said Thorpedo Anna's next work will be early in the week as well.

On Friday, McPeek worked 2024 GI Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (Goldencents) on the grass for the first time. He went five furlongs in 1:02.17 (5/10) on the Oklahoma. Mystik Dan is entered to make his turf debut in next Saturday's GI Arlington Million at Colonial Downs.

“This is a horse that has done everything we've asked him to do,” McPeek told the publicity department at Colonial. “Being a Grade I going 1 1/4 miles, the Arlington Million seems like a perfect spot for our Derby winner.”