Stay Thirsty lands his second graded stakes win of the year
for Todd Pletcher in the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga
After a breath taking performance in his last start at Belmont Park where he finished second to Ruler on Ice in the Belmont Stakes, Stay Thirsty grabbed a breakthrough win in the $500,000 Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga on 30 July, 2011.
Trained by Todd Pletcher for owner Mike Repole, the 3-year-old colt Stay Thirsty started his career a year ago with his stable mate Uncle Mo.
Stay Thirsty always played second fiddle to the 2 year old champion Uncle Mo, who always overshadowed Stay Thirsty with his eye catching performances.
Stay Thirsty, son of Bernardini out of Marozia by Storm Bird, finally got his big break after a dominating performance in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes under jockey Javier Castellano.
The 3-year-old colt’s previous graded stakes race win came in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes, earlier this year at Aqueduct on 5 March, 2011.
Under jockey R Dominguez, Stay Thirsty made a strong run down the stretch to defeat Norman Asbjornson with a final time of 1 minute and 44.78 seconds.
The colt bagged his second graded stakes win of the season in an emphatic style, where he defeated Reade Baker trained Moonshine Mullin by a massive margin of four lengths.
Early in the race under jockey Javier Castellano, Stay Thirsty at the top of the lane took care of Steven Asmussen trained favoured Dominus who was ridden by Julien Leparoux.
Javier Castellano’s ride Stay Thirsty was never off the pace and, kept tabs on the pace maker long shot Will’s Wildcat who set impressive fractions early in the race. The favoured Dominus was coming off a victory in the Grade 2 Dwyer Stakes looked in good
shape as he tracked the leaders.
On the far turn, Stay Thirsty was trailing but quickly gained on Dominus on the outside and both horses hit the quarter pole at the same time. At the top of the lane Stay Thirsty showed his stamina as the tiring Dominus started falling behind.
Moonshine Mullin took over as Dominus was easily put away, but couldn’t match strides with the winner Stay Thirsty, as he easily dominated the field of seven by winning the 1 1/8 mile event in style.
Stay Thirsty has visited Saratoga for the third time now. The colt broke his maiden here when he contested under jockey J Velazquez over at a six furlong dash.
The second start was immediately after he broke his maiden, in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes, where Stay Thirsty finished a resounding second.
The win in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy provided trainer Todd Pletcher with his fourth win of the day, as owner Mike Repole landed his second of the Saratoga Card.
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