Hendriks well-represented by Little Trilby, Coutach in G1 Jonathan Sheppard Memorial
Trainer Ricky Hendriks is well-suited with a pair of contenders for owner Del Rio Racing in Grade 1-winner Little Trilby and Grade 1-placed Coutach for Wednesday’s Grade 1, $150,000 Jonathan Sheppard Memorial, a 2 3/8-mile steeplechase handicap for older horses, at Saratoga Race Course.
The 6-year-old Little Trilby looks to return to the form that saw him post a dominant 6 3/4-length victory in the 2 1/8-mile Grade 1 Commonwealth Cup on May 2 at Great Meadow, stalking and pouncing under regular rider Conor Tierney and drawing away strongly. Last out, he faltered as the favorite in the local Grade 1 Beverly R. Steinman on June 3 when 21 lengths back of his runaway pacesetting stablemate Coutach in the early stages and failing to fire his best when called upon by Tierney, landing a distant fourth.
“We were looking for him to run well there, but then he kind of flattened out and didn’t run his race, so we brought him home and freshened him up a bit,” Hendriks said. “He just ran a little flat that day, but he had a really good work on the farm a few days ago and I said, ‘oh, he’s ready now.’”
The Golden Horn gelding has made 11 starts for Hendriks, led by his Commonwealth trouncing and a half-length win in the Grade 2 William H. Allison two starts prior to that effort in October at Great Meadow. He holds one win over the local going, taking the Michael G. Walsh Novice last summer in a 12 1/4-length romp.
Hendriks said Little Trilby is training as well into this race as he did ahead of his Commonwealth victory.
“That [the Commonwealth effort] was like, ‘whoa,’ and he looks well again now,” Hendriks said. “He’s put some weight on and he looks like he’s ready to go. Hopefully, one of them can pull it off for us.”
Tierney rides again at 154 pounds, two pounds less than the highweight L’Imperator.
Coutach also enters off a freshening following the Steinman, where he was uncharacteristically sharp when zipping to the lead early and widening for a 16-length advantage through the first mile. He came back to the field after 1 1/2 miles, and though he tired, he continued to jump well before giving way with three-eighths left to run and settled for third well back of one-two finishers Jimmy P and Rocket One.
Hendriks said he is hopeful that effort took the edge off Coutach and that he can be a bit more settled on Wednesday.
“He’s doing very well and we gave him a little break after his first run. He actually hung on pretty darn well for doing what he did,” Hendriks said. “It was just one of those races where it didn’t really work out. We weren’t expecting that [running away early]. Usually he stays close, but not like that. He might have been too sharp, but I’m very happy with him right now.”
The 5-year-old Blue Bresil gelding carried 150 pounds last out, a marked weight break after bearing 158 pounds in each of his four prior starts, including wins in the Hobkirk Hill in November at Camden and the restricted Green Pastures in May at Percy Warner. Those efforts surrounded a pair of restricted stakes placings in the Carolina Cup at Camden [third] and the Good Night Shirt at Foxfield [second].
Hendriks praised the lightly-raced bay’s consistency and bravery.
“He ran well at Camden and then we ran him back at Foxfield and he was unfortunate to just get beat,” Hendriks said. “But then he ran a really nice race in Nashville with a lot of weight on him. He’s a very talented horse.”
Like his stablemate, Coutach was also assigned 154 pounds as Dan Nevin looks to engineer a winning ride.
Hudson River Farms’ aforementioned L’Imperator [Freddie Procter, 156 pounds] will look to overcome his highweight assignment under Freddie Procter as he wheels back off an even off-the-board finish in a local 1 3/8-mile flat optional claimer on August 22 for trainer Arch Kingsley, Jr. There, the 9-year-old Holy Roman Emperor gelding returned from a nearly two-year respite dating to a rallying fourth in the Grade 1 American Grand National in October 2024 at Far Hills.
A winner of almost $700,000, L’Imperator is a graded stakes-winner on both the flat and over hurdles, capturing the Grade 2 Fort Marcy in 2022 at Belmont Park when in the care of five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown, and adding the Grade 1 Steinman to his ledger in 2024 when it was contested at Belmont at the Big A. His 32-10-2-9 record includes five additional graded placings on the flat and in steeplechase events.
Kingsley, Jr. also sends out Hurricana Farm’s Grade 1-placed Sweet Will [Bernard Dalton, 140 pounds], a veteran of 46 career starts who looks to bounce back from a distant fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Leo O’Brien Handicap on July 5 here. The 9-year-old Dragon Pulse gelding’s best finish at this level was a third in the Lonesome Glory Handicap in September at Belmont at the Big A.
Mrs. S. K. Johnston, Jr.’s Smart Uncle [Jamie Bargary, 150 pounds] goes for a Saratoga Grade 1 double for Hall of Fame trainer Jack Fisher, entering from a deep-closing three-quarter-length victory over Fil Dor in the A.P. Smithwick Memorial Handicap on August 5.
The win was the first in graded company for the 6-year-old Uncle Mo gelding, and came in his fifth start this campaign after distant finishes in April and May and closer efforts in the restricted Valentine Memorial in May at Fair Hill and a restricted allowance on July 9 at Colonial Downs.
Shannon Hill Farm’s Mr Percy [Graham Watters, 152 pounds] also looks to double up on Spa victories following a gutsy half-length victory in the Jonathan Kiser Memorial Novice going this distance on July 16 for trainer Neil Morris. There, he made an impressive rally from 19 lengths off the pace under returning rider Graham Watters and was able to run down Cyber Ninja in the final jumps, with that foe exiting to win the local Michael G. Walsh Novice next up on August 12.
The 6-year-old Sir Percy gelding has made four stateside outings since moving from the barn of Joseph O’Brien for this year’s campaign, and has hit the board in three of them, including a narrow second to Rocket One in the restricted Marcellus Frost in May at Percy Warner.
Completing the field is allowance-level-winner Siennois [Stephen Mulqueen, 144 pounds], who is 2-for-3 over hurdles and enters from a 5 1/4-length allowance score going 2 1/4 miles on August 13 at Colonial Downs. The 5-year-old Advertise dark bay looks to give trainer Keri Brion – a former assistant to this race’s Hall of Fame namesake – her third straight win in this event and fourth overall. Her past scores came with The Mean Queen in 2021 and Jimmy P in 2024-25.
The Jonathan Sheppard is slated as Race 1 on Wednesday’s nine-race program. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
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