Saratoga NY — Saratoga Race Course completed its first full week of racing on Friday afternoon. Ten races were held at The Spa, highlighted by The Curlin Stakes.
Race One: Vilma led the whole way through the first race of the afternoon, but Squeeze Thetrigger (10/1) ridden by Angel Arroyo took the win in a three wide finish down the stretch. Noble and True finished second and Vilma came home third. This was Squeeze Thetriggers’ first win and his Saratoga debut, and sixth career race overall. Squeeze Thetrigger is the son of the winner of the 1999 Travers’ Stakes and Belmont Winner as well as the 2000 Whitney and Woodward winner, Lemon Drop Kid.
Race Two: Buffalo Miss (2/1) with Ricardo Santana Jr up, dominated the whole way in race two, never really seeing a challenge from anyone else in the 12 horse field, winning the race by an incredible seven lengths. The race was finished by the horse in a quick-paced 1:04.00 in the 5 ½ furlong, mellon turf race. Cats Halo finished second, and Bust came in third after a photo for the show finish. This was Buffalo Miss’ first career win in her third career start, and it was her second race at Saratoga.
Race Three: Huge leads usually don’t stay the whole way. That was the case for Half Irish, who had a huge lead for most of the race, still holding a seven length lead entering the far turn. She was passed by Grey Stark (3/2) in the stretch, ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. Taralena finished second and Penjade was third. As for Half Irish, she fell far behind and finished last by a large margin in the seven-horse field. This was Grey Stark’s second Saratoga race, and first win at Saratoga. Overall, it was her fifth career race, and second career win. It was Ortiz Jr’s 12th win of the meet, leading all Saratoga jockeys in wins.
Race Four: It was close most of the way, but it was Beeks (9/2) with Luis Saez up, pulled away late to grab the win in race four. The win was by two lengths, with the distance mainly coming in the final stretch of the 5 ½ furlong race on the mellon turf. Singleton came in second, and Magician Man was third. This was Beeks’ second career race, and first at Saratoga. This was also the colt’s first lifetime win. The win for Saez was his fourth win of the 2016 Saratoga meet.
Race Five: Freud’s Friend (15/1) ridden by Manuel Franco had the lead for most of the way until a hard charging Luis Saez on Jo’s Bold Cat came up to get neck-and-neck with the leader, but Freud’s Friend was able to hold him off in a head-bobbing photo finish. Preferred Outcome came in just behind them, finishing third. This was the first competitive race for the two year old horse, so it was the first win for the horse as well. This was Franco’s sixth win of the 2016 Saratoga meet.
Race Six: Four horses were in contention at the end, but it was Tahoe Tigress (7/1) with Jose Ortiz up taking the lead in the final stretch and holding on to win the race. Zeven finished second and then it was Miss Amalita, who had the lead for much of the race, coming in third. The win for Tahoe Tigress was his eighth career victory in 28 starts for the seven year old horse. This is Ortiz’s sixth win of the 2016 season. This is also career win number 1,001 for Ortiz, as the 22 year old jockey notched his 1,000th career win in the ninth race on Thursday. Ortiz has averaged 226 wins per year since he began racing full-time in 2013.
Race Seven: Saratoga Giro led most of the way, but it was Eden Ridge (12/1) taking the lead in the stretch and holding off the field to take the win. Kendrick Carmouche was the rider on the three year old horse, winning his second race of the Saratoga meet. Saratoga Giro winded up finishing second, and Here Comes Tommy came home third. This was the 10th start all-time for the horse, and third win. The race was also Eden Ridge’s Saratoga Race Course debut. Additionally, this was Carmouche’s first race for trainer Carlos Martin.
Race Eight: Another late pass for the win, as it was Sunset Knoll leading most of the way in the eighth race, but it was Quigley’s Corner (10/1) with Jose Lezcano up making the race-winning pass just out of the far turn and held off the pack in the stretch to take the victory by four lengths. Agawa finished second and Daring Dutchess came in third next to Agawa. This was Quigley’s Corner’s first run at Saratoga, and third win in eight career races. This is Lezcano’s second win of the 2016 Saratoga meet.
Race Nine (8th running of The Curlin): Connect (8/5) ridden by John Velazquez held off the favorite and his stablemate, Gift Box in the 8th running of The Curlin. Gift Box ended up finishing second, and Forever d’Oro finished third. This was Connect’s Saratoga debut, and fourth career race overall. It was also the horse’s third win in those four starts, continuing his trend of being a successful thoroughbred. Connect is also the son of Curlin, whom this race is named after.
Race Ten: The day of upsets continued in the final race of the day, as Signature Look (9/1) ridden by Junior Alvarado held off three horses through the final stretch run of the race to hold on for the win. Knight of Valor came in second and Gunlock finished third, starting a late charge for the lead just a little bit too late. This was Signature Look’s second career win in 15 starts, and it was the horse’s first start at Saratoga. This was Alvarado’s sixth win of the meet, and ended an odd trend of the day, as no jockey won more than one race on Friday afternoon.
Saturday will have 11 races, and post time for the first race will be the usual 1 PM. There are two stakes races, the Vanderbilt in race eight and the Jim Dandy in race nine. The post times for those races are 5:40 PM and 6:17 PM, respectively.
Jockey win leaders:
- Irad Ortiz Jr., 12 wins
- John Velazquez, 8 wins
- Jose Ortiz, Manuel Franco, Junior Alvarado, 6 wins
- Javier Castellano, Luis Saez, 5 wins
- Joel Rosario, Ricardo Santana Jr., 4 wins
