Horse Racing: Unstoppable ‘Discreetly Mine’ wins Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga
It was almost an unfair competition because ‘Discreetly Mine’ was the unquestionable favourite, and he showed everyone why that was so when he took first place with an 8 and ¾-length lead to win the $150,000 Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.
The only challenger was ‘Essence Hit Man’ with Jockey Chantal Sutherland aboard. The horse started off brilliantly or perhaps too eagerly and took an early lead into first place. He cleared the field without much urging from Sutherland but was still outmatched by ‘Discreetly Mine’.
‘Discreetly Mine’ stayed in second place, stalking ‘Essence Hit Man’ and waiting for a chance to reclaim first place. By the three sixteenths pole, ‘Essence Hit Man’ lost the lead and was in second place. The horse didn’t give up or slow down, though. Even after losing first place, he held on till the end of the race finishing second, a length and a half ahead of third place ‘In Jack’s Memory.’
With the Amsterdam Stakes, ‘Discreetly Mine’ has won twice in 3 starts. Jockey John Velazquez called it an easy victory. He said that he held the horse in the start of the race and let him have a break. Right out of the gate the horse wanted to go but Velazquez didn’t push him. Velazquez said that ‘Essence Hit Man’ striding into first place was fortunate for him and allowed ‘Discreetly Mine’ to settle. “After that, it was pretty easy. As soon as I asked him to go, he opened up.”
‘Discreetly Mine’ finished 6 ½ furlongs in an extremely quick time of 1:14 1/5. “The way he was rolling, I thought he was going to threaten Quality Road's track record there for a second,” his trainer Todd Pletcher said. Quality Road set the speed record for the new 6 ½ furlongs distance at the Amsterdam Stakes last year. The stakes have been run at 6 ½ furlongs since 2005. It was the Todd Pletcher and John Velazquez duo that won the race last year and set the record time.
Velazquez has had a string of successes lately. Not only did he win the Amsterdam stakes two times in a row, this is his third graded win in as many days. Velazquez won the Grade II Jim Dandy Stakes and the Grade I Ruffian Invitational in the days leading up to the Amsterdam Stakes. It wasn’t only the Jockey who has had a good run lately. His horse ‘Discreetly Mine’ finished second in the Grade II Woody Stephens Stakes at Belmont and took first place at Monmouth in the Grade III Jersey Shore stakes.
Third place in the Amsterdam Stakes went to the 25-1 shot ‘In Jack’s Memory.’ The horse started well and held on throughout the race to finish at third place. He returned $6.20. 8-1 ‘Essence Hit Man’ paid $5.20 and $3.80, while the odds on favourite and winner paid $3.20, $2.60, and $2.20.
His trainer believed that ‘Discreetly Mine’ was all set for the Derby. “The way he trained and galloped out I thought he might be able to do it, but now that we’ve backed up in distance he’s found his niche.” ‘Discreetly Mine’ made the Kentucky Derby field while Pletcher’s Quality Road couldn’t last year. He only managed to finish in 13th place in this year’s Kentucky Derby, and was subsequently returned to Sprint distances.
Pletcher said that they would point the winner to the Grade I King Bishop Stakes scheduled for the 28th of August at Saratoga. “We’ll see how he comes out of it," Pletcher said. "We certainly should be thinking about the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at this point, but that’s a ways away, so we’ll see how he bounces out of this and go from there.”
Tags: