Country Grammer rallies on rail to win Peter Pan Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Country Grammer rallied along the rail to defeat Caracaro by a neck to capture the $100,000 Peter Pan in front of a silent, empty grandstand on what winning trainer Chad Brown called a “bittersweet day” Thursday at Saratoga.

The Grade 3 Peter Pan highlighted opening day of the 40-day Saratoga meeting that at the moment, and perhaps for the duration, will be run spectator-free.

Country Grammer sat a perfect trip under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Saving ground while within easy striking distance for the opening six furlongs, Country Grammer slipped along the rail to stick his head in front turning for home, relinquished the advantage to Caracaro through midstretch, and then reasserted himself in the final sixteenth to prove narrowly best.

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Caracaro ducked out a bit to engage in some crowding after the start before quickly recovering to race close up while outside horses for the opening six furlongs. Caracaro, with only two previous starts on his resume, came wider off the turn, overtook Country Grammer nearing the furlong grounds, but could not resist that rival at the end.

Mystic Guide, the 8-5 favorite in a field of nine 3-year-olds, lagged near the rear of the pack for nearly seven furlongs, angled to the middle of the track turning for home, and rallied mildly while never threatening the top pair, finishing 3 1/4 lengths behind Caracaro.

Celtic Striker, Modernist, Chestertown, Candy Tycoon, Mo Hawk, and Katzarelli completed the order of finish.

Paul Pompa Jr. owns Country Grammer, a son of Tonalist, who won for the second time in five career starts. He paid $10.20 after completing 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.79 over a fast track.

Country Grammer earned 50 points for the win under the qualifying system put in place by Churchill Downs for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby.

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“He’s a long-distance horse, we’ve been wanting to get him back out to a mile and one-eighth where he had his only win,” Brown said. “He never trained well at Belmont, he just doesn’t like that track much. We ran him there last time because he was there. He had a nice work over the track here last week, and we were confident he’d run well. And Irad gave him a beautiful ride. He took advantage of his inside post.”

Brown said the Grade 1 Runhappy Travers on Aug. 8 would likely be his next objective for Country Grammer.

“The logical thing is to point him to the Travers at a mile and one-quarter,” Brown said. “He’s an improving horse. He hasn’t run many times, so there’s room for more improvement here.”

Brown also gave his thoughts about arguably the strangest opening day in the long and storied history of Saratoga.

“It's been a tough day to walk around here. I never thought I'd see that,” Brown said. “It's really nice to win this race, but it's been a bittersweet day with this beautiful place empty where I grew up.”