Horse Racing: Straight Story wins West Point Stakes at Saratoga
It’s always somewhat disappointing when the favourite wins a race. Fans always want to see an underdog beat the odds and come out on top. They want to see upsets and drama, photo finishes and excitement. Then there are favourites, who just deserve to win and the fans cheer for them even if the race itself doesn’t offer the edge-of-your-seat thrills. Sometimes there is satisfaction in seeing a horse get what they tried hard to get and earn.
The West Point Stakes was one such race and the odds-on favourite, ‘Straight Story’ were favourable. This was Straight Story’s first stakes win and it was about time. Straight Story is all heart. He has come close to the milestone on quite a few occasions until finally things went his way at Saratoga against other New York breeds.
Jockey, Javier Castellano, was visibly pleased after riding Straight Story to his first stakes win. Although, the West Point Stakes could be said to be the highlight of Javier’s day, it was by no means the only achievement for the Jockey on the day. He won 3 races that day including West Point stakes. “It worked out great”, Javier said after the race. Javier reported that the ground on the inner turf was firm and gave him good speed, something he was able to take advantage of to win the race.
Straight Story should have won his first stakes much earlier. Last year he faced disappointment after finishing just a head behind first place finisher in the Colonial Turf Cup and the Virginia Derby. Both races were too close for comfort and could have swung either way. He also finished second in the Ashley T. Cole handicap by less than a length and again missing out on glory by only a head in the Jamaica Handicap.
No one could claim that Straight Story was outclassed or outmatched. Things just didn’t go right for him until now. Straight Story has the stuff and it really was just a matter of time before the gods of horse racing looked down favourably upon him. West Point Stakes was finally his race.
His handlers gulped in anxiety early on when the horse stumbled in the start. He was able to recover well enough and returned to his stride quickly. By the three-eighths pole, Straight Story was already making his move. He was trying to move into the lead before the first turn going head to head with the competition. By the quarter pole Straight Story was firmly in the lead and in control. He held on till the end winning the $100,000 grade I race by a length ahead of ‘Pocket Cowboys.’ He ran the 1 1/8 miles in a respectable 1:48. 58.
In 11 starts, Straight Story now has 3 first place, and 5 second place finishes. With the $60,000 earnings at West Point, his total earnings have now been boosted to $ 556,390. Javier said that because Straight Story was second to lead and had to wait a bit, he became a bit uneasy. “He’s a very sharp horse; he thought it was time to go,” Javier said. According to Javier, Straight Story was comfortable into the home stretch but was looking around the field. “I didn’t want him to wait on horses. I wanted him to open up a little bit”.
Second place finisher, Pocket Cowboys gave chase to the race leaders and was eager from the start. Jockey Edgar Prado tried to keep him calm and waited for the right moment before making a move. Prado moved his mount wide into the first turn as he chased the leaders and held on until the final stretch where, under urging from Prado, Pocket Cowboys took second place while chasing the winner with everything he had. ‘Icabad Crane’ finished in third place.
Straight Story gave back $4.10, $2.90 and $2.50. Pocket Cowboys paid $10.80 and $7.30, while Icabad Crane returned $4.80 for show.
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