Gary Barber's Jack and Noah broke alertly and never looked back, wiring an eight-horse field by drawing away to a 3 1/4-length victory in Wednesday's $85,000 Mahony for sophomores at Saratoga Race Course.
Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse entered the second running of the Mahony winless during the summer meet but tallied nine runner-up finishes. Jack and Noah finally eliminated the goose-egg for his conditioner, rocketing to the front under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez from the outermost post and building a six-length lead on the field with the opening quarter-mile in 21.50 seconds on the Mellon turf course labeled firm.
Jack and Noah registered the half-mile in 43.55 and built a 7 ½ length-edge at the three-eighths mark. In the stretch, Competitive Saint made up some ground, but the pacesetter was never seriously challenged, completing 5 ½ furlongs in a final time of 1:01.28.
“He was out of there right from the start,” Velazquez said. “Last time, the track was a little bit soft, so it took him a couple of strides to get out of the gate. Today, the track had a little more grip to it, so he got a nice grip coming out of there. All the way around the turn, I knew he was going well. I was just hoping that down the stretch things would go our way, and they did. I was proud of the horse's effort.”
Casse earned his first victory with his 32nd starter of the meet, with the 5-1 selection returning $12 on a $2 win bet. Jack and Noah improved his career earnings to $216,300.
“We didn't tell Johnny too much. He's been here before and has a game plan going in,” Casse assistant Jamie Begg said. “Last time, he missed the break, but the turf was also a little soft, so when he needed to run last time, he struggled a bit through the softer turf. The turf has been a lot better recently, so we were confident going in and as soon we saw Johnny break on top like that, I knew we were away to the races.”
Earlier in the meet, Casse came close in graded stakes company, finishing second with Got Stormy in Saturday's Grade 1 Fourstardave, Tap It to Win in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens on Whitney Day, August 1, and with Make Mischief in the Grade 2 Adirondack on August 12.
“It's one of those things where if we had a few wins, we'd be having a decent enough meet,” Begg said. “We've been pretty consistent with the graded horses hitting the board. We just needed to get one and having it be in a stake with a horse coming back is pretty good.”
Competitive Saint, making his stakes debut after starting his career 2-for-2 for trainer George Weaver, finished 1 ½-lengths in front of Buy Land and See for second.
Island Commish, Flap Jack, 9-5 favorite Maven, Old Chestnut and Power Up Paynter completed the order of finish. Cajun Casanova and Turned Aside scratched, as did main-track only entrant Sky of Hook.
Live racing resumes Thursday at Saratoga with a nine-race card that features the $85,000 Smart N Fancy older fillies and mares going 5 1/2 furlongs on turf in Race 7 at 4:41 p.m. First post is 1:10 p.m.
The post Jack And Noah Gives Casse First Win Of Saratoga Meet In Wednesday’s Mahony Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
