Back in the saddle, Jerkens eyes Top Flight

By Jenny Kellner / NYRA

Hall of Fame trainer H. Allen Jerkens wasted no time getting back into the swing of things upon his release from a month-long stay in the hospital on November 12 following heart surgery. First up was arranging a ride to Belmont Park and a personal inspection of every horse. A couple of days later, he was driving himself to the barn in his truck. And on Wednesday, he was back in his most familiar and natural state -- aboard his stable pony, Circus.

“I come out for an hour or so in the morning, and again in the afternoon,” said Jerkens, 79, whose assistant, Fernando Abreu, oversaw the horses in his absence. “So far, so good.”

Jerkens, who had a pacemaker installed on October 20, eight days after having two valves repaired in his heart, sees nothing remarkable in the rapid resumption of his everyday life – to him there is little difference among sitting in a chair, sitting behind the wheel of his truck, or sitting on a horse.

But what might speed his recovery even faster would be a “virtual” visit to the winner’s circle at Aqueduct Racetrack on Friday, when Jerkens sends out Joseph V. Shields’ multiple stakes winner Any Limit and Mrs. Leverett S. Miller’s So Glitzy in the 69th renewal of the Grade 2, $150,000 Top Flight Handicap for fillies and mares going a mile. First race post time for Friday’s nine-race HolidayFest card is 12:25 p.m.

“It’s like anything else, you take a shot and hope for the best,” said Jerkens, who plans on watching the race from home, one day before he and his wife, Elizabeth, depart for Florida for the winter. “Maybe they’ll get a piece of it.”

Any Limit, a 5-year-old daughter of Limit Out, put together back-to-back victories this summer in taking the Grade 2 First Flight at Belmont Park and the Grade 2 Honorable Miss at Saratoga Race Course. In her last effort, Any Limit was sixth behind Indyanne in the Grade 3 Thoroughbred Cub of America Stakes on Polytrack at Keeneland Race Course, her first off-the-board performance in more than two years.

“That’s the trouble with artificial surfaces – you don’t know if they didn’t like it, or they weren’t good that day,” said Jerkens.

So Glitzy, whose early career was so lackluster that Jerkens recommended she be retired, comes of a third-place finish to another Top Flight starter, Helen Alexander’s Altesse, in the Grade 3 Turnback the Alarm Stakes on October 26 at Belmont Park.

Trained by Shug McGaughey, both Altesse, a 5-year-old daughter of A. P. Indy, and the Phipps Stable’s Boca Grande, will be making the final starts of their careers in the Top Flight.

Altesse, who took an overnight stakes at Belmont Park prior to the Turnback the Alarm, comes into Friday’s race with seven victories from 22 lifetime starts for earnings of more than $400,000. Boca Grande, a 4-year-old daughter of A.P. Indy who won the Grade 2 Demoiselle at age 2 and the Grade 2 Comely at age 3, both at the Big A, has compiled a bankroll of just over $500,000 with four wins in 15 starts.

“Both are coming up to the race in great shape,” said McGaughey’s assistant, Buzzy Tenney. “Altesse’s last two races were as good as any of her career, and Boca Grande is doing well. I’m expecting good efforts from both of them.”

Trainer Todd Pletcher is also expecting good things from WinStar Farm’s Leah’s Secret, winner of the Grade 2 Chilukki at Churchill Downs in her last start.

“She’s run consistently well this year for us,” said Pletcher, who this year took over training of the 5-year-old daughter of Tiger Ridge and saddled her to two victories and two seconds in seven starts, including the Grade 3 Chicago Breeders’ Cup. “It seems as if she really excels at a one-turn mile.”

Trainer Gary Contessa is hoping a return to Aqueduct will mean a return to the winner’s circle for Winning Move Stable’s Rite Moment, who last winter went on a three-race winning spree including victories in the Grade 2 Distaff Handicap and the Grade 2 Bed O’Roses Handicap.

Sovereign Stable’s 3-year-old Shining Image, never worse than third in six lifetime starts; Live Oak’s Slewfoundmoney, making her Big A debut coming off two straight wins at Calder, and Chevalier Stable’s Weathered, with a first and second in her two Aqueduct starts, round out the field.