Parchment Party back to his preferred distance in Listed Birdstone
Pin Oak Stud’s Parchment Party gets back to a marathon distance and looks to defend his title for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott in Thursday’s Listed $200,000 Birdstone, a 1 3/4-mile stamina test for 3-year-olds and up, at Saratoga Race Course.
“This is his cup of tea and his game,” Mott said. “He’s doing very good.”
The 5-year-old son of Constitution took last year’s Birdstone by one length over Digital Ops, an effort that produced a career-high 98 Beyer Speed Figure. That win came on the back of a last-to-first 8 1/2-length romp in the Grade 3 Belmont Gold Cup, which was originally slated for two miles on the turf and moved to this distance over a sloppy and sealed main track. Hall of Famer John Velazquez was in the saddle for the bay’s first stakes win.
Parchment Party earned a “Golden Ticket” to the Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington for his Belmont Gold Cup win, and traveled ‘Down Under’ to finish off-the-board in the final start of his campaign. This year, he returned with a half-length victory over returning foe Jokestar in the Listed Temperence Hill in March at Oaklawn Park en route to a win in the Listed Isaac Murphy Marathon on April 29 at Churchill Downs, scoring by 1 1/4 lengths over the reopposing Interceptor. Both of those efforts came over 12 furlongs.
Last out, Parchment Party landed off-the-board when cutting back to 10 furlongs in the Grade 2 Suburban presented by Subourbon Life on July 4 here.
“We knew the race was a bit short for him, but he hadn’t run in a while, and if we were going to run in this race, we kind of felt we would give it an honest try knowing it’s probably not his best distance,” Mott said of the Suburban. “It just didn’t work out. I don’t think we were surprised he wasn’t as effective in that race. With that being said, we got the race under his belt and that should have prepared him for the one coming up.”
Bred in Kentucky by B. Flay Thoroughbreds, Parchment Party was a $450,000 purchase at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase and is out of the Tiznow mare Life Well Lived, making him a half-brother to Grade 1-winner American Patriot and dual graded stakes-placed Muqtaser.
Velazquez returns to the irons from the inside post.
Frassetto Stables’ Stars and Stripes [post 3, Luis Saez] also arrives from an uncharacteristic off-the-board finish in the Suburban, where he entered from a half-length win over stablemate Batten Down in the 1 3/16-mile Grade 3 Ben Ali in April at Keeneland.
The 4-year-old Not This Time bay graduated by 10 1/2 lengths going nine furlongs last June at Belmont at the Big A and followed with another open-lengths trouncing in his Spa debut one month later in allowance company at the same distance, both as a sophomore against elders. He was off-the-board in the Listed Dwyer cutting back to one mile, but relished added ground this year with another nine-furlong optional-claiming score in March at Oaklawn Park ahead of the Ben Ali.
Mott said he’ll evaluate the Birdstone field before finalizing plans for Stars and Stripes.
“He’s doing good,” Mott said. “We have been looking for a place to run him and I don’t think we ever planned on running him quite this far, but we’ll have a look at it and make a decision before race day.”
Out of the unraced Quality Road mare Pearl River, Stars and Stripes was a $100,000 purchase at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is a half-brother to Grade 3-winner Waves of Mischief.
David Staudacher and Paradise Farms Corp.’s dual stakes-placed Interceptor [post 6, Irad Ortiz, Jr.] will look for a breakthrough victory for trainer Mike Maker.
The 4-year-old son of Authentic has been nothing but consistent since being haltered by his current connections for $50,000 out of a neck third in a December claiming tilt at Aqueduct Racetrack. He has hit the board in each of his six starts for Maker, including back-to-back allowance-level wins at the Big A when stalking and pouncing going nine furlongs in February and setting the pace over 10 furlongs in March.
“He’s been very consistent, especially since we stretched him out, and he always tries,” Staudacher said. “That’s so important.”
In April, Interceptor posted two game efforts from off the pace in stakes company, landing 1 3/4 lengths back of Yo Daddy and earning a career-best 97 Beyer in the 10-furlong Listed Excelsior at the Big A and 1 1/4 lengths back of returning rival Parchment Party in the Isaac Murphy Marathon.
That was the longest test of his career, and saw him 6 1/2 lengths back in fifth-of-7 in the early going before showing a willing turn-of-foot through the far turn to hold off Stowaway by a half-length for second to Parchment Party. The hard-trying gelding was similarly gritty in his last effort, and was nosed out of second by that same rival in a June 26 nine-furlong optional claiming event at Churchill won by Aristotle.
“He ran great, and the distance didn’t seem to bother him,” Staudacher said of the Isaac Murphy effort. “I think he can handle the mile and three-quarters and he’s been training well.”
Initially trained by five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, Interceptor sold for $130,000 at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is out of the Tapit mare Sweet Assassin, a full-sister to multiple graded stakes-winner Cupid.
Al and Bill Ulwelling’s dual Grade 3-placed homebred Jokestar [post 7, Jose Ortiz] enters from a brief respite dating to an off-the-board finish in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 2 Eclipse over Woodbine Racetrack’s Tapeta on May 30.
Trained by Kevin Attard, the 5-year-old Practical Joke gelding began his career in Canada with his current conditioner before moving stateside for a dirt campaign from last April through September. In November, he moved back to Attard’s care and landed second in a pair of Grade 3s, including Woodbine’s 12-furlong Valedictory in December when 1 1/4 lengths the better of the reopposing Passing Game to close out a productive 7-3-2-1 campaign.
This year, Jokestar was off-the-board when cutting back to one-mile and 70-yards over the synthetic in January at Gulfstream Park before he galloped home a 6 1/2-length winner in the nine-furlong Post Time in February at Laurel Park. A stretch-out back to 12 furlongs saw him nearly defeat Parchment Party in the Temperence Hill, landing just a half-length back of his familiar foe and matching a career-best 94 Beyer.
“That horse was coming off a bit of a layoff at the time and was well-prepared, and we gave him a run for his money,” the trainer said.
Attard said the surface switch will benefit Jokestar, who holds an 8-4-1-1 record over dirt.
“He’s doing really well and we’ve freshened him up,” Attard said. “We are looking forward to getting back on the dirt. They gave him an opportunity on it and he seems like he’s thrived over that surface. Arguably, his best numbers came over dirt and I don’t think the distance will be a problem. We’re excited to get him to Saratoga.”
Jokestar has hit the board in 2-of-3 starts at 12 furlongs – his longest races to date – and Attard is confident the two extra furlongs will not bother the hardy gelding.
“He’s been a horse that seems like he’ll run all day long,” Attard said. “He’s a quiet horse, and when you watch him train in the morning, he just seems like he’ll go forever. I think with age, he’s matured and gotten a bit better.”
Attard tightened the screws on Jokestar in his last two works, and sent him out to post a pair of sharp five-furlong bullets over Woodbine’s dirt training track that included a 59.80-second work on July 31.
“We’ve been trying to get him fit and ready for this race and have been targeting it for a while now,” Attard said. “We’ve amped up his training as it’s gotten closer and he’s handled everything really well. He’s doing great and coming into the race in good order.”
Completing the field are Grade 3-placed Passing Game [post 4, Tyler Gaffalione] for trainer Ricky Hendriks; and a trio of allowance-level winners in Waitlist [post 5, Manny Franco] for trainer Linda Rice, the Norm Casse-trained first-time gelding Carolo Rapido [post 8, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] and Annexperience [post 2, Kendrick Carmouche] for trainer Jeremiah Englehart.
The Birdstone is slated as Race 8 on Thursday’s nine-race card. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
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