R Heat Lightning wins Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
Four horses were sent out to the Saratoga Race Course by trainer Todd Pletcher which included R Heat Lightning as well. As the race began, this thoroughbred proved that it was trained of one of the most talented horse trainers in America as it gave an awesome performance in the Grade I Spinaway Stakes at the Saratoga Race Track on Sunday. It's victorious trainer Todd Pletcher and the horse won a total of $250,000 as prize money. R Heat Lightning won the Spinaway Stakes by running at a remarkable pace in the last quarter of a length, something that any experienced race horse would do to outperform the very best in any race.
R Heat Lightning is the only race horse which was trained by Pletcher but was not considered to have a lot of potential to go on and win. The thoroughbred has been bred by E. Paul Robsham which outperformed every other horse right from the beginning of the race. This was R heat Lighting’s first stakes victory which left its trainer amazed. This victory was the 36th win in the meets for Pletcher at the Saratoga Race Course in the same season. This surpassed the trainer’s own record of winning 35 races in the same season and that too at the Saratoga Springs. This record was set by Pletcher in 2003 and 2004, when the racing season lasted for less than 40 days. On the other hand, the racing season at Saratoga this year concluded on Monday, the 6th of September.
R Heat Lightning won this race and gained loads of attention and appreciation by the media and experts alike. The race was won by the horse on a challenging but fast track. It has been bred in Florida and has run by jockey Garrett Gomez under a time of 1 minute and 25.23 seconds. After this race, R Heat Lightning will be considered for the Grade I Frizette Stakes, scheduled to take place on the 9th of October at the Belmont Park.
Pletcher’s second horse, Sky Hosoya also did a great job in the beginning of the race and ran with great power, taking an early lead in the first quarter in less than 22 seconds. Alienation took the lead after a mile in a time of 44.74 seconds. Alienation on the other hand was then taken over by R Heat Lightning in a smart way. The former thoroughbred did however run one and a half lengths ahead of the latter horse. However, R Heat Lightning ran at a faster and steadier speed than Alienation and thus R Heat was able to make to the first spot at the end of the meet. Alienation was seen to stumble at the start of the race but overall, the horse ran in an impressive manner.
One of the four horses of Pletcher on the track that day, Valiant Passion, finished in the third place at the Spinaway Stakes. The race horse had previously won the 9 and a quarter length race on the 12th of August at Spa. The sixth place finisher was also a horse trained by Pletcher. Stopspendingmaria was the runners up at the Grade III Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga Race Track on the 23rd of July, while Sky Hosoya finished at the last place in that race.
Le Mi Geaux finished at fifth place. After winning the Spinaway Stakes, R Heat Lightning’s earnings increased to almost four times his win amount over its entire racing career.
Pletcher is now looking forward to the Breeder’s Cup Classic in which one of his favourite and highly rated horses, Quality Road will be contesting the race. Pletcher was more than pleased with the run of his four horses at the Spinaway Stakes. While talking to correspondents after the race, Todd Pletcher claimed that he was not surprised at the outcomes of the race.
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