Love Cervere looks to win three straight stakes in S150K Galway

Edward Seltzer, Beverly Anderson and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing send out dual-stakes winner Love Cervere in Thursday’s Listed $150,000 Galway, a 5 1/2-furlong Mellon turf sprint for 3-year-old fillies, at Saratoga Race Course.

Love Cervere [post 11, Joel Rosario] seeks a third consecutive stakes win this year for trainer Miguel Clement. The Into Mischief bay, out of the stakes-placed Black Minnaloushe mare Panther Strike, is a half-sister to Grade 3-winner Chapalu and dual stakes-placed Caroline Test.

She enters on the heels of two impressive scores, including her last out win by 2 1/2 lengths in the Listed Alywow sprinting 6 1/2-furlongs in June at Woodbine. The effort registered a career-best 88 Beyer Speed Figure.

“She’s training very well,” Clement said. “She was very impressive in her last two stakes victories. We’re excited, she’s never run at Saratoga yet but nevertheless she’s been based here for a while and I’m excited to see her run.”

Love Cervere earned her first stakes win with a narrow score in the Take the A Train in May at Belmont at the Big A. There, she broke well but ultimately settled into eighth-of-9 in rein to Hall of Famer Joel Rosario, who will retain the mount for this effort. In the opening quarter, Gata Brazil was prominent early setting the opening marker at a brisk 22.87 seconds over the good turf course. Rosario remained poised on Love Cervere, letting the early pacesetters duel on the lead for a half-mile posted in 46.40. The patient ride paid off as Love Cervere kept finding more and drove past her foes to get a neck in front of the game Hey Bertie in a final time of 1:10.25.

Clement believes her versatility keeps all options open as far as potential trip scenarios for Rosario.

“Amazingly versatile. In regard to tactics, our job is to train, and we will leave the tactics to Joel, who you know is more than capable of calling an audible himself anyway,” said Clement, with a laugh. “Joel has been working the filly and the two of them get along well.”

Love Cervere started her 2025 campaign in Florida, finishing a half-length second to multiple graded stakes winner Nitrogen in the Listed Ginger Brew in January going one mile over the firm Gulfstream Park turf. Nitrogen went on to rattle off four consecutive graded stakes wins and a narrow place effort last out in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational.

Love Cervere will make a slight cut back in distance as her previous efforts have all ranged from six furlongs to one mile.

“There is a concern regarding the distance,” Clement added. “I would much rather have preferred to run between six and seven eighths. I think six to seven furlongs is probably her ideal distance. Nevertheless she’s very good and good horses overcome distance limitations.”

Love Cervere, who makes her Saratoga debut, has banked over $200,000 through a strong 5-3-1-0 record.

Clement also sends out Make Haste [post 3, Flavien Prat] for Gainesway Stable and LNJ Foxwoods as the British-bred daughter of Blue Point looks to rebound after a disappointing sixth place finish in the Grade 3 Coronation Cup over the same course and distance.

“She’s training very well,” Clement said. “The other day, just draw a line through it. We had a setback, and we believe she is over that. I was so disappointed we actually had Flavien Prat breeze the filly not once, but twice just to cover all bases because we were a bit perplexed and disappointed. We tweaked a few things, and we do expect for her to give a better account of herself next time.”

Make Haste, a $96,112 purchase from Book 2 of the 2023 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, is out of the winning Lawman mare Quick March, a half-sister to Mince, the 2012 Champion 3-Year-Old Sprinter in Europe.

Trainer George Weaver enters a deep group of five horses headlined by graded stakes-placed Laurice [post 10, Junior Alvarado] for Bregman Family Racing, stakes winner Pop Idol [post 1, John Velazquez] who is co-owned by Weaver with R. A. Hill Stable, the lightly raced New York-bred Silsbee [post 5, Irad Ortiz, Jr.] for owners Swinbank Stables, RAP Racing and Chris Mara, and the British-bred Regalton [post 2, Luis Saez] for owners Emcee Stable, Fortune Farm, Robert Hahn, and John LaPolla.

To cover all the bases, Weaver also has Flat Out Time entered for the main-track only.

“They’ve been training well,” Weaver said. “We’ve entered five and then we’ll see which ones are going to run.”

Laurice returns to the Saratoga turf after a valiant runner-up finish over the same course and distance in the local Grade 3 Coronation Cup on July 11 during the opening week of the meet. There, she bobbled out of the gate and tracked outside of the eventual winner Italian Soiree. Those two followed a hot pace set by Make Haste and the battling Cloe through an opening quarter in a rapid 20.99. Laurice angled outside of the pacesetters as Italian Soiree ducked towards the inside, which proved the winning move as Laurice finished one length behind.

The Bolt d’Oro filly has not found the winner’s circle in seven tries since her debut half-length win over course and distance in August 2024.

Pop Idol looks to overcome a more than eight-month respite from when she posted a career-best effort in November in the six-furlong Shady Well on Tapeta at Woodbine. There [under the care of Katerina Vassilieva], the Ontario-bred Maclean’s Music bay earned a career best 78 Beyer Speed Figure while making every pole a winning one through splits of 22.80 and 45.30 en route to a 2 1/2-length score in a final time in 1:10.62.

The lightly-raced Silsbee, by Vekoma, looks to match her five-length romp in her first effort on turf in a New York-bred maiden special weight sprint in May at Belmont at the Big A. In that effort, she was bumped at the break and sat comfortably in the two-path before bounding away under steady urging from rider Irad Ortiz, Jr. Silsbee earned a strong 83 Beyer Speed Figure, a promising number for her first effort over the surface as her debut was a distant off-the-turf try in September at the Big A.

“It was against New York-bred maidens but we liked her going into the race. It’s been a little while since she ran but were looking forward to getting her back over there for the race for sure,” Weaver said.

Regalton, a British-bred bay by Zoustar, looks to build upon a second-out maiden score in July over course and distance. There, she broke sharply and sat fourth through an opening quarter in a zippy 21.59 seconds. She then made a wide bid and edged clear late to win by 2 1/4 lengths over Fast Market in a final time of 1:02.02. The winning effort registered a 75 Beyer.

Tracy Farmer’s graded stakes winning Abientot [post 12, Dylan Davis] will get some class relief for dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse.

Abientot ended her strong 2-year-old campaign with the ultimate test for horses in her division in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in November at Del Mar. There, she faced the uber-talented field spearheaded by the eventual winner and multiple Group 1 winning Lake Victoria for trainer Aidan O’Brien as well as multiple graded stakes winning stablemate Nitrogen, who finished a game third in the marquee event.

She comes off a troubled third against returning foes Laurice and Make Haste in the aforementioned Coronation Cup. There, she broke in and hit the gate at the start, leaving her with too much to do in the late stages and ultimately resulting in a closing 1 1/4-length third.

Rounding out the field are stakes winners Roja [post 8, Manny Franco] for trainer Graham Motion and Luna Louska [post 9, Jose Ortiz] for conditioner Gustavo Delgado; stakes-placed Proud Starlet [post 7, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen; allowance winners Delightful Flame [post 4, Kendrick Carmouche] for conditioner David Duggan and the Ray Handal-trained Twirling Beauty [post 6, Romero Maragh], who is cross-entered in the Lady Erie on August 4 at Presque Isle Downs; and maiden-winner Magnolia Prime [post AE13, Javier Castellano] for trainer Victor Barboza, Jr.

Hollygrove and Stone Smuggler are also entered for the main-track only. 

The Galway is slated as Race 7 on Thursday’s 10-race card. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern. 

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