SARATOGA SPRINGS -- If it isn't Bobby Frankel, it's probably Todd Pletcher.
That has been the training trend with most winners, especially stakes winners, during this 135th Saratoga Race Course meet.
Pletcher picked up his 22nd victory in 15 days when Finality got a perfectly timed ride from John Velazquez and held off Celtic Sky by a length to win the 24th West Point Handicap for New York-breds on Saratoga's Mellon turf course.
"You just keep hoping that it continues," Pletcher said. "I feel like we're taking advantage of conditions the horses are eligible to, and this horse being a New York-bred, it's a step down in class from what he's been running against."
Finality had tendon surgery after being injured last fall, and his return race against open company in the Poker Handicap was nothing short of abysmal -- he was last in a field of 11.
"My concern was whether he'd maintain his form from last year and whether the ground was going to be soft," Pletcher said. "He didn't run that well in the Poker, and I didn't know where we stood with him."
It was expected to be a soft turf course, but the rain that had been forecast never arrived and the turf was listed as good.
Finality, a 4-year-old son of Spa-loving Dehere, had won his past two turf starts against New York-breds last season before Pletcher moved on to open company. He won the Grade II Jamaica Handicap on Sept. 22 at Belmont, but that would be the 2002 finale for Finality.
He tore a tendon in his left front leg and was out of racing until July.
"We felt like from a class standpoint, he was arguably the horse to beat in the race," Pletcher said, referring to the West Point.
The bettors weren't convinced after the Poker and sent Finality off at generous odds of 3-1 despite Pletcher's incredible record. It soon was apparent the colt was back to his previous form.
"It was an easy trip," said Velazquez, who also is the leading rider at the meet with 28 victories. "I was lying second as a passenger and just pushed the button. He took off like a shot."
Finality ran second most of the way in the 1 1/8 -mile stake before overtaking pace-setting long shot Captain Nicholas at the top of the stretch. Private Emblem had a rough trip but got up for third in the field of 12.
Celtic Memories, the defending champion, did all he could but simply wasn't good enough.
"I got a beautiful trip, but the winner got the jump on us," jockey Edgar Prado said. "It could have gone either way if I was on the outside of the winner."
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=159187&category=SPORTS&BCCode=&newsdate=8/9/2003
That has been the training trend with most winners, especially stakes winners, during this 135th Saratoga Race Course meet.
Pletcher picked up his 22nd victory in 15 days when Finality got a perfectly timed ride from John Velazquez and held off Celtic Sky by a length to win the 24th West Point Handicap for New York-breds on Saratoga's Mellon turf course.
"You just keep hoping that it continues," Pletcher said. "I feel like we're taking advantage of conditions the horses are eligible to, and this horse being a New York-bred, it's a step down in class from what he's been running against."
Finality had tendon surgery after being injured last fall, and his return race against open company in the Poker Handicap was nothing short of abysmal -- he was last in a field of 11.
"My concern was whether he'd maintain his form from last year and whether the ground was going to be soft," Pletcher said. "He didn't run that well in the Poker, and I didn't know where we stood with him."
It was expected to be a soft turf course, but the rain that had been forecast never arrived and the turf was listed as good.
Finality, a 4-year-old son of Spa-loving Dehere, had won his past two turf starts against New York-breds last season before Pletcher moved on to open company. He won the Grade II Jamaica Handicap on Sept. 22 at Belmont, but that would be the 2002 finale for Finality.
He tore a tendon in his left front leg and was out of racing until July.
"We felt like from a class standpoint, he was arguably the horse to beat in the race," Pletcher said, referring to the West Point.
The bettors weren't convinced after the Poker and sent Finality off at generous odds of 3-1 despite Pletcher's incredible record. It soon was apparent the colt was back to his previous form.
"It was an easy trip," said Velazquez, who also is the leading rider at the meet with 28 victories. "I was lying second as a passenger and just pushed the button. He took off like a shot."
Finality ran second most of the way in the 1 1/8 -mile stake before overtaking pace-setting long shot Captain Nicholas at the top of the stretch. Private Emblem had a rough trip but got up for third in the field of 12.
Celtic Memories, the defending champion, did all he could but simply wasn't good enough.
"I got a beautiful trip, but the winner got the jump on us," jockey Edgar Prado said. "It could have gone either way if I was on the outside of the winner."
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=159187&category=SPORTS&BCCode=&newsdate=8/9/2003
