Azar secures maiden victory in With Anticipation

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Azar and Next Shares, the only maidens in the field, dominated Wednesday’s $200,000 With Anticipation Stakes, finishing one-two in the Grade 2 turf stakes for 2-year-olds at Saratoga.

Azar, second behind stablemate Unbridled Daddy after setting the pace to deep stretch in his last outing, rallied from just off the lead making his stakes bow in the 1 1/16-mile With Anticipation. Next Shares, also a narrowly beaten second making his only previous start at Ellis Park, showed the way setting honest splits of 23.19 seconds, 47.63, and 1:12.39 for the opening six furlongs. The lone supplementary entry in the field, Next Shares kicked away from the odds-on favorite Site Read and Unbridled Daddy once settling into the stretch but could not withstand the winner, who tipped out and ran down the leader after saving ground to midstretch under a well-judged ride by jockey John Velazquez to win by three-quarters of a length. Next Shares was 2 1/2 lengths clear of Unbridled Daddy.

Azar, a son of Scat Daddy owned by Alto Racing LLC and trained by Todd Pletcher, completed the distance over a firm course in 1:41.68 and returned $24.40.

Pletcher, asked about running maidens in a stakes, said “It’s not something we do often, but this came up a short field, he did everything but win his last start, this came up a short field, and he had two-race experience so we decided to take a shot.

“Johnny [Velazquez] felt he was much better today, much more focused and much more professional following horses and he gave us a big, last 100 yards,” Pletcher added.