Bring Theband Home perfect at Spa going into Harvey Pack

Live Oak Plantation’s Florida-homebred Bring Theband Home will look to defend his title in Sunday’s Listed $200,000 Harvey Pack, a 5 1/2-furlong Mellon turf sprint for 3-year-olds and up, at Saratoga Race Course.

The Harvey Pack is slated as Race 8 on the nine-race program, which also includes the Grade 1, $150,000 Leo O’Brien steeplechase in Race 1 and the Grade 3, $225,000 Kelso in Race 6. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.

Trained by dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Bring Theband Home is 3-for-3 over course and distance, beginning with an optional-claiming score over returning rival Twenty Six Black in August 2024. Last summer, he secured his first career stakes wins with frontrunning scores in the Harvey Pack and Grade 2 Troy. The Spa-friendly gelding graduated here at second asking over the main track in July 2022.

In last year’s Harvey Pack, the son of Into Mischief rocketed through splits of 21.51 seconds and 43.52 over the firm footing, and completed the course in 59.90 seconds, just one-tenth off the track and then North American record of 59.80 set by Cogburn in the 2024 Grade 1 Jaipur. Bring Theband Home registered a career and field-best 109 Beyer Speed Figure for that victory.

Bring Theband Home followed with a frontrunning tour-de-force in the Troy, marking the half-mile in 43.39, opening up by four lengths at the stretch call en route to a 1 1/2-length score in a final time of 1:00.38 to earn a 105 Beyer.

“I think he's just grown up,” Casse said of the improved speed figures last season. “He was impressive [in the Harvey Pack] and he ran fast. He did it with a fair amount of ease, too.”

Bring Theband Home followed with a pair of subpar efforts traveling five furlongs when a troubled-start seventh in the Grade 2 Nearctic in October at Woodbine and a distant ninth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar.

“He maybe got away a little slow at Del Mar, but no excuses really. We felt he had tailed off, so we sent him home and started aiming for Saratoga,” Casse said.

Bring Theband Home has worked three times over the Saratoga main track, including a bullet half-mile in 47.68 seconds on June 19 and a three-eighths gate work in 37 flat on June 25.

“He was down at Live Oak [during his freshening] and they had done some work with him there. He came in to me and looks fantastic. He's in good order right now and we know he loves Saratoga – and so do I,” said Casse, with a laugh.

Casse enjoyed a tremendous Belmont Stakes Racing Festival earlier this summer at Saratoga, compiling a 20-5-2-1 record that included Mi Bago’s win in the Kingston on New York Showcase Day along with Grade 1 scores from Counting Stars in the DraftKings Acorn, Classic Q in the Just a Game presented by Resolute Racing and a stellar victory in the Ogden Phipps presented by Ford by Nitrogen, who is potentially targeting a start versus males in the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney on August 8 here.

A Florida homebred for Live Oak Plantation, Bring Theband Home is out of the Street Cry mare Tizatude, a half-sister to Grade 1-winning millionaire Paynter. His second dam, Tizso, is a full-sister to Hall of Famer Tiznow.

Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, who is rapidly approaching his 6,000th career win with 5,991 victories at press time, retains the mount from inside post aboard Bring Theband Home [124 pounds].

Twin Creeks Racing Stables and CMNWLTH’s Chasing Liberty [post 7, Dylan Davis, 122 pounds] will look to secure his fifth career stakes win, while making his Spa debut.

Trained by Rob Atras, the 4-year-old Constitution chestnut has banked $1,051,309 through a 12-5-2-2 ledger with turf scores ranging in distance from 5 1/2-furlongs to one mile.

Two starts back, Chasing Liberty rallied from eighth-of-13 to finish a neck second to returning rival Outlaw Kid in his seasonal debut in the King T. Leatherbury on April 18 over firm Laurel Park turf.

Last out, he turned the tables on his familiar foe, closing from sixth-of-10 and six lengths off the pace to post a nose score over Outlaw Kid in the 5 1/2-furlong Listed Turf Sprint over firm going on May 16 at Laurel.

Atras said Chasing Liberty, who worked three-eighths in 36.72 June 28 over the Belmont Park dirt training track, has performed well as an older horse.

“He ran two great races at Laurel. It was nice to see him take that step up from 3-to-4 and run with those horses,” Atras said. “So, we have had two really good efforts and this will be another step up, but we're hopeful he can do it because he's been training super.

"We did a maintenance three-eighths, a little blowout [June 28],” Atras continued. “He did a half-mile before that. This three-eighths blowout was just basically to have him sitting on go for this race." 

Chasing Liberty was elevated to victory in the 6 1/2-furlong Listed Juvenile Sprint in September 2024 at Kentucky Downs and added the one-mile Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance to his ledger that November at Del Mar. Last year, he launched his campaign with a win in the Texas Turf Mile at Sam Houston.

T and E Racing’s Possiblemente [post 3, Jose Ortiz, 124 pounds] has hit the board in 21-of-32 starts and will look to double up on stakes scores in his Spa debut for trainer Joe Sharp.

The 6-year-old Tale of Ekati gelding had focused mainly on route racing before being transferred to Sharp for his current campaign. Following a one-length third in a claiming mile in January at Turfway Park, Sharp turned Possiblemente back in distance to great effect, capturing a pair of optional-claiming sprints at the Florence, Kentucky, oval.

Possiblemente went to post a 21-1 longshot in the 5 1/2-furlong Grade 2 Turf Sprint on May 2 at Churchill Downs, rallying from last-of-10 and 6 3/4-lengths off the pace under Manny Franco to land a 1 1/4-length fifth. Last out, Possiblemente was in closer contention over Tapeta, closing from fifth-of-7 and 1 3/4-lengths back to post a one-length score in the six-furlong Grade 3 Jacques Cartier on May 30 at Woodbine Racetrack.

“Since we’ve cut him back and turned him into a sprinter, he’s really gotten good. We got that graded stakes win at Woodbine last time, so just hoping to get a stakes win on the grass now,” Sharp said of Possiblemente, who boasts an 11-4-3-0 turf record.

Sharp said Possiblemente adjusted quickly to the sprint game and is improving with each start.

“He was always a horse going long – before we got him – that would show speed and fade, and I’ve had some luck with those horses in the past to turn them into sprinters with something to chase. That made him very genuine,” Sharp said. “The race he ran in the Turf Sprint on Derby Day with Manny, he didn’t really know what he was doing as far as being asked to be that ‘sprinty,’ so by the time the lightbulb went on at the three-sixteenths pole, he was flying. I think having a turf sprint under his belt now, he’ll be a little handier and able to be a little closer and in a position to win.”

Possiblemente, out of the stakes-winning Not Bourbon mare Internal Bourbon, has banked $466,348 via a 32-10-7-4 ledger.

Roger Cimbora, Jr.’s New York homebred Twenty Six Black [post 4, Manny Franco, 120 pounds] exits a rallying 1 1/2-length fourth to the victorious Reef Runner in the Grade 1 Jaipur on June 6 here.

Trained by Horacio De Paz, the 6-year-old War Dancer gelding captured the restricted Disco Partner here last summer following his rallying second to Bring Theband Home in the Troy. The talented bay subsequently finished third in the Grade 3 Belmont Turf Sprint in September at Belmont at the Big A and completed a productive campaign with a one-length score in the state-bred New York Turf Sprint Championship on October 25 there.

Twenty Six Black, who boasts an 8-2-3-1 ledger on the Spa turf, entered the Jaipur from a strong effort in the Listed Elusive Quality in May at Belmont at the Big A when a neck second to Waralo, who exited that effort to win the Ashley T. Cole.

Twenty Six Black is out of the First Dude mare Brazo de Oro, who also produced the stakes-placed De Paz trainee Can’t Fool Me for Cimbora, Jr. He has banked $687,310 via a 19-7-5-2 ledger.

A solid field is completed by dual graded stakes-placed Outlaw Kid [post 8, Jorge Ruiz, 122 pounds], who enters from a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Highlander for trainer George Weaver; Grade 2-placed Boss Sully [post 2, Joel Rosario, 122 pounds], who ships in from the West Coast for trainer Brian Koriner; multiple stakes-winner Coppola [post 6, Edgard Zayas, 120 pounds] for trainer Tareq Moubarak; multiple stakes-placed Jean Valjean [post 5, Jaime Rodriguez, 120 pounds], who is cross-entered in Friday’s Karl Boyes at Presque Isle Downs for trainer Elizabeth Merryman; dual stakes-placed Full Disclosure [post 9, Tyler Gaffalione, 120 pounds] for conditioner for Amzadali Jehaludi, Blinkers ON; and three-time winner We’re in Trouble [post 10, Flavien Prat, 120 pounds] for trainer Michael McCarthy. Damon’s Mound, Acoustic Ave, Paradise Valley, Mischievous M and New York Scrappy are entered for the main-track only.

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