Carotari shrugs off layoff, speeds away with Turf Sprint
BALTIMORE - Carotari returned from a five-month layoff the way he went into it, flaunting that early speed of his, shrugging aside some early pace pressure and drawing clear to win the $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint Stakes at Pimlico by 1 1/2 lengths.
Smokin’ Jay rallied down the center of the course and nosed out Seven Scents for second. Grateful Bred was fourth, followed by Mr. Hustle, Bank, Arthur’s Hope, The Wolfman and Hollis.
The win was the ninth from 25 starts for Carotari, a 6-year-old gelding by Artie Schiller owned by William Branch and trained by Brian Lynch. It was his fifth stakes win and increased his lifetime earnings to $616,863.
Carotari was making his first start since Dec. 31, when he won the Janus Stakes at Gulfstream Park by 1 3/4 lengths. Luis Saez was aboard him that day and rode him again on Saturday.
Breaking from post 2, Saez asked Carotari away from the gate and he ran an opening quarter in 21.90 seconds, while Grateful Bred and Hollis were running with him. Carotari had a one-length lead after a half-mile in 44.69 seconds while Grateful Bred and Hollis began to tire.
Carotari was clear in upper stretch and won while being given a vigorous hand ride by Saez.
“Last time he missed the break a little, he was outside second, but he’s pretty quick,” Saez said. “Today, he run pretty nice, controlled the pace, rode him pretty confident. When I came to the top of the stretch, I still had a lot of horse. We just wait for somebody to come and close and let him run and he did the rest.”
Carotari covered the five furlongs in 56.52 seconds over the firm turf and returned $4.80 as the favorite. Carotari was given a 99 Beyer Speed Figure.