Catch My Drift gets right setup in Summer Colony

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Chad Brown knew if Catch My Drift was going to win Monday’s $100,000 Summer Colony Stakes at Saratoga she would need a little help.

The help came in the form of Holiday’s Jewel, who prompted the odds-on favorite Tiz So Sweet through swift early fractions, enabling Catch My Drift to rally by her inside the final furlong and roll to a 6 1/4-length victory.

It was the first stakes victory in her fifth try in such a race for Catch My Drift, a daughter of Pioneerofthe Nile - the sire of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah - owned by Hidden Brook Farm.

Tiz So Sweet, the 4-5 favorite breaking from the rail under Junior Alvarado, couldn’t shake Holiday’s Jewel, who pressured her through fractions of 23.69 seconds for the quarter, 46.98 for the half and 1:11.15 for six furlongs in the 1 1/8-mile race.

The red-hot Irad Ortiz Jr. had Catch My Drift about five lengths back in third and saving ground before asking her to move at the three-eighths pole. Catch My Drift swung wide into the stretch, and despite drifting out a little bit, easily maneuvered past Tiz So Sweet en route to the victory. Tiz So Sweet finished second by 5 3/4 lengths over Imposing Grace. Samantha Nicole, Montana Native and Holiday’s Jewel completed the order of finish.

“We figured the favorite in the race was the controlling speed and a real quality horse,” Brown said. “We were coming off a little bit of a layoff as well. I told Irad, 'If you can execute it, just get right behind [Tiz So Sweet] early and just hope that somebody goes with her and softens her up. I think we got her fit enough if we get a little help up front,' and fortunately we did.”

Catch My Drift covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.72 and returned $7.20 as the second choice.

The win was the second on the card for Brown, who took a 24-22 lead over Todd Pletcher in the trainers standings entering the final two weeks of the meet. Brown has finished second to Pletcher in four consecutive years.

“I don’t look at it,” Brown said. “I’m aware of it, but I don’t change my entries at all or do anything different, and I think it’s helped us have a really good meet.”

Ortiz has had a really good meet as well. He won three more races on Monday, giving him 46 for the meet, nine more than second-place Javier Castellano.

Ortiz also recorded his 1,000th career victory, if his 83 wins in Puerto Rico are taken into account.