Added Edge wins Nashua to go 4 for 4
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Canadian shipper Added Edge remained undefeated in four starts by winning Saturday's $109,700 Nashua Stakes for 2-year-olds at Aqueduct.
Under jockey Patrick Husbands, Added Edge was a 2 1/4-length winner over Outer Reef. Boston Bull, the 4-5 favorite, finished third, a half-length behind Outer Reef.
Roaring Fever, Wacky for Love, Formidable Fox, and Areyouamused completed the order of finish in the Grade 3 Nashua. Pretty Wild was scratched in the morning with an injury.
Added Edge sat off the pace set by Cowdin winner Boston Bull, who was ridden by John Velazquez. Added Edge challenged the pacesetter around the far turn and the two horses entered the stretch in tandem. Added Edge pulled away from Boston Bull in the final furlong.
Added Edge ($7.60) covered the distance in 1:36.77 over a fast track.
Husbands, aboard for each of Added Edge's wins, said, "He's a nice horse. From day one, he has been very professional and has done everything right. He's a classy little horse."
Mark Casse, Added Edge's trainer, said the Nashua was a good test for his colt.
"I really wasn't worried about the distance," Casse said. "I was worried about the competition. We knew we had a good horse. The question was what was he beating [in Canada]? The Breeders' Cup was a little tempting, but this is a tall and lanky horse, who we figure will get better and better."
Added Edge, a son of Smart Strike owned by Team Valor Stables and Robert Wilson, won his first three starts at Woodbine, including easy wins in the Silver Deputy and Swynford stakes.
Casse said Added Edge would spend the next 30 days on a farm in Ocala, Fla., and then the colt would head to Gulfstream Park for a winter campaign.
"We'll get him ready for the Kentucky Derby, I hope," Casse said.
Todd Pletcher, Boston Bull's trainer, said he was concerned before the race that speed wasn't holding well at Aqueduct.
"We weren't discouraged by the effort; he ran a hard race," Pletcher said. "We had the concern that horses on the lead weren't carrying their speed the last couple of days. This was his first time over the track here, and maybe he was seeing things for the first time."