SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Trainer John Robb and jockey Xavier Perez aren’t all that well known to racing fans on the New York circuit, but that could change after today’s 108th running of the historic Sanford Stakes. Robb and Perez will team up with the promising Maryland-bred colt Studlydoright in the Grade 3, $175,000 Sanford, a six-furlong sprint for juveniles on the main track at Saratoga Race Course.
Owned by David R. Hughes, Studlydoright has won both of his starts, including the listed Tremont Stakes on June 6 at Saratoga during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. The chestnut son of Nyquist is the only stakes winner in the Sanford’s field of seven. He is the second choice on the morning line at 7-2 and will break from post 6 under Perez, who has been aboard for both victories. Perez has two previous graded wins at Saratoga. In 2013, he won both the Ballerina (G1) and Honorable Miss (G2) with Dance to Bristol.
In the 5½-furlong Tremont, Studlydoright overcame a bobbling beginning and closed an 11-length deficit to take command in the stretch and pull clear for a 1¾-length win.
“He’s doing very well and I’m looking forward to running him again,” said Robb, who has won 2,291 races in a career that dates back to 1975. “He’s just a nice horse. I was tickled to death with the way he ran and the way he finished. I’m looking forward to going a little bit farther with him. I think the more distance, the better.”
Studlydoright debuted in May at Laurel Park with a win against open company sprinting at 4½ furlongs over a sloppy and sealed track, rallying from six lengths back to power home a 1½-length winner. He was a $110,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling Sale and is out of the graded stakes-placed Curlin mare Peach of a Gal. Studlydoright enters from a sharp five-furlong breeze in 1:01 flat July 6 at Laurel.
“Every work and every race has been a little better and a little better,” said Robb. “He’s just steadily improving. He worked all in hand in company with an older stakes horse and he refused to let the other horse get by. He did everything right.”
Repole Stable’s impressive debut maiden-winner Mentee makes his first start against winners after fending off the late rally of Colloquial in a five-furlong maiden sprint on June 15 at Belmont at the Big A for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Mentee is the morning-line favorite at 6-5 and will break from the rail under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez.
The son of City of Light is a full brother to the Pletcher-trained and Repole-campaigned Fierceness, last year’s Champion 2-Year-Old Male, and was heavily favored in his debut where he set the tempo under Velazquez. He extended his lead to five lengths at the stretch call but was met with a flying challenge from Colloquial in the final sixteenth. Velazquez stayed calm and coaxed him along to hold on by a nose in a final time of 56.97 seconds, a track record for five furlongs at the Big A. The win was awarded a field-best 88 Beyer Speed Figure.
“We were very pleased with the effort,” said Pletcher. “I think he got a little bit idle on his own but was able to get the job done in a very fast time. I think the horse that was second is a high-quality horse as well, so I was pleased with his debut and very happy with the way he’s trained since then.”
Along with Fierceness, Mentee’s immediate family also includes Grade 1-winner Outwork, who captured the 2016 Wood Memorial for Pletcher and Repole. He enters from a half-mile breeze in 49.05 seconds July 7 over Saratoga’s main track.
Pletcher said Mentee shows the same level of professionalism as his accomplished brother.
“He’s a little bit ahead (of Fierceness) in terms of having his second start scheduled for July 13,” said Pletcher. “They’re both really push-button horses to work and it really wasn’t until, in both cases, that we got a little more serious in their breezes where we knew they had a lot of talent because they’re both a little quiet on a daily basis. Hopefully, he continues to maintain his composure and handle everything as professionally as he has so far.”
L and N Racing’s stakes-placed Three Echoes (post 5, Flavien Prat, 4-1) looks to rebound from a third-place effort to Studlydoright in the Tremont, where he was the 2-1 second choice for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.
The son of Echo Town had a bumpy start when breaking inward under Prat but recovered to vie for the lead along the inside in a three-way battle. He angled out in the turn to set his sights on the front-running favorite Touchy before ducking back inside for the stretch run. Three Echoes ran on strongly but was in tight along the rail as a drifting Touchy came inward and Studlydoright surged past from well off the pace on the outside. A stewards’ inquiry resulted in no change to the order of finish.
R and H Stable’s New York-bred Mo Plex (post 8, Irad Ortiz, Jr., 6-1) was a sharp 10-length winner on debut against fellow state-breds on June 20 at Belmont at the Big A, where he battled for the early lead with Man From Malta and kicked well clear at the stretch call. Trained by Jeremiah Englehart, the son of Complexity won geared down in a final time of 1:05.05 for 5½ furlongs. Bred by Everything’s Cricket Racing, Mo Plex is out of the unraced Uncle Mo mare Mo Joy, a half-sister to multiple stakes-placed Little Daddy.
Completing the field are a quartet of maiden winners in Bella Mia Stables’ Mr. Squeaky Wheels (post 2, Jose Ortiz, 15-1), who races with two front shoes for trainer Kevin Rice; Cash is King and LC Racing’s Baby Dukes (post 3, Jose Lezcano, 12-1) for trainer Butch Reid, Jr.; Our Blue Streaks Stable and SGV Thoroughbreds’ New York homebred Soontobeking (post 4, Eric Cancel, 20-1) for trainer George Weaver; and Peter Tournas’ New York homebred War Tax (post 7, Javier Castellano, 15-1) for trainer Carlos Martin.
