The eagerly awaited return of the dirty champion Nest here.
The 3 year old champion of 2022 will start for the first time in 8 months when she runs in the $200,000 Shuvee (G2) at Racecourse Saratoga on July 23. She was last seen finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at Keeneland race track previous November.
Daughter of make for curly owned by Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House, got the final tune for the Shuvee with four winds that lasted for 50 seconds on July 16 on the Oklahoma Training Track.
Riding by gymnast Nora McCormack, Nest is full of energy as she works with a teenager jogging from the Pletcher barn.
“That’s what we expected of her,” Pletcher said after work.
Work was initially planned on the main track, but again, Pletcher had to call the sound. The early morning heavy rains caused the Hall of Fame coach to keep an eye on the weather radar, and he ultimately decided the best course of action was to go to Oklahoma.
“It’s Saratoga and you get used to it,” says Pletcher. “It’s like you have to call every day.”
Pletcher said he thinks the weather will change around 7 a.m., and he’s spoken to Glen Kozak, executive vice president of Operations a few times.
“I asked him what his intentions were and he said he would try to harrow (Oklahoma) if it was good,” he said. “I called him after the first break and told him I thought he would be pleased with the form of the track.”
And Nest had a good surface to do her job, and now all the systems are moving to Shuvee, where she will meet Stonestreet Stables LLC’s Clairiere the winner of her last two starts, Apple Blossom (G1) April 15 at Oaklawn Park and Ogden Phipps (G1) June 10 at Belmont Park.
