Blue Prize gets it done in Summer Colony Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It wasn’t the dominant victory the odds-board indicated it might be, but it was a victory nonetheless for the heavily favored Blue Prize in Sunday’s $100,000 Summer Colony Stakes at Saratoga.

Blue Prize, dropping into a listed stakes after eight consecutive graded stakes appearances, wore down a stubborn Vexatious to take the Summer Colony by a neck. The two were 14 1/4 lengths clear of Alberobello in third.

The win was the eighth in 21 career starts for Blue Prize and first since she captured the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland last October. The win likely earned Blue Prize a return to the Spinster on Oct. 6. Blue Prize is based at Keeneland.

“The trip wasn’t like the way I expected, but she had the class,” winning trainer Ignacio “Nacho” Correas IV said. “The filly that run second ran a big race.”

:: Get PPs, Clocker Reports, picks, and more from DRF's Saratoga/Del Mar One-Stop Shop

Under white-hot Jose Ortiz, Blue Prize found herself last, about eight lengths off the pace after an opening quarter run by Alberobello in 22.96 seconds. Blue Prize was carried out by Breaking Bread entering the first turn.

Ortiz bided his time on Blue Prize, who raced outside of Pacific Wind down the backside. Meanwhile, Vexatious, under Joel Rosario, was an up close third, chasing Alberobello through a half-mile in 47.28 seconds and six furlongs in 1:11.19.

Vexatious poked her head in front at the five-sixteenths pole and had a clear lead turning for home. But Ortiz had Blue Prize on the move and in second at the quarter pole.

At first, Ortiz kept Blue Prize a few paths away from Vexatious in the stretch but then he guided her alongside inside the sixteenth pole and Blue Prize persevered past that rival in the final three strides.

Blue Prize, a 6-year-old daughter of Pure Prize owned by Merribelle Stable, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.58 and returned $3.20 to win.

“I was a lot farther back than I thought I was going to be, but they were going fast,” said Ortiz, who won the Summer Colony one day after winning the Grade 1 Alabama. “My filly was comfortable where she was – if she was happy, I was happy. Down the backside I started making my move and she was always there for me.”

After Blue Prize finished behind Elate in both the Fleur de Lis and Delaware handicaps, Correas was simply happy to get the mare back to the winner’s circle.

“We’ll keep working to see what we can do to go to the next level,” Correas said.

Vexatious was making her first start on dirt in more than a year. Trainer Jack Sisterson said that both at Keeneland and Saratoga Vexatious “trained like she wanted to run back on the dirt.”

Sisterson said Vexatious “ran a winning race. We got beat by a Grade 1 filly.”

Vexatious will also run back in the Spinster, Sisterson said.