Barry K. Schwartz's homebred Sharp Starr, a neck winner of the Grade 3 Go for Wand Handicap, was one of three New York-breds to pick up graded-stakes wins on Saturday joining Brooklyn Strong [Grade 2 Remsen] and Varda [Grade 1 Starlet at Los Alamitos]. The Go for Wand and Remsen were run at Aqueduct in Ozone Park, N.Y.
The victory in the one-turn mile for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up provided 35-year-old trainer Horacio DePaz with his first graded stakes win.
“I'm very happy for the filly. She's really developed,” said DePaz. “The owner was thrilled. We've always thought highly of the filly and she's really coming around. Obviously, he bred her and owns the mare, so he was really happy.”
With Jose Ortiz up, Sharp Starr tracked in second position, a length back of older eight-time winner Portal Creek, piloted by Kendrick Carmouche, before engaging in a stirring stretch duel over the sloppy and sealed main track.
“I was happy with the position she got,” said DePaz. “She broke clean and was able to get into the race and then Jose did a really good job of judging the pace. We were really concerned about Kendrick's filly getting loose on the lead. She was the only one that showed speed like that and the way the track was playing, we didn't want her to get too far away and leave us with too much to do. Jose rode her really well and judged it really well. It was a thriller down the stretch.”
Sharp Starr, a 3-year-old daughter of Munnings who has overcome a tendency to start slowly, graduated in July at Belmont Park and hit the board in a pair of nine-furlong events going two turns over the summer at Saratoga Race Course, including a closing third in the restricted Fleet Indian.
The dark bay was off-the-board in the nine-furlong Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan in October at Pimlico Race Course before finding winning form in a 15 3/4-length score in a one-turn mile against state-breds on November 7 at the Big A that garnered a 101 Beyer Speed Figure.
DePaz said the extended sprint distance suits Sharp Starr with a pair of one-mile events at the Big A – the open $125,000 Heavenly Prize on March 6 and $100,000 Biogio's Rose for state-breds on March 7 – under consideration.
“I'd like to keep her at the one-turn mile. I'll have to talk to the owner and see,” said DePaz. “She's great this morning. She's bright, alert. She ate up was sound on the road and no worse for wear.”
Sharp Starr's 2-year-old half-brother V Pattern, by Street Sense and out of the A.P. Indy mare Mindy Gold, continues to develop for DePaz. He earned a 46 Beyer in his lone start when sixth in a 6 1/2-furlong state-bred maiden special weight on October 18 at Belmont.
“He started once and it was too short for him but he got a good experience out of it,” said DePaz. “He also didn't break the sharpest in that race but made a run at the end. He can hopefully move forward from that.”
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