Disco Partner dips into restricted company in Lucky Coin Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Disco Partner is eligible for Friday’s $100,000 Lucky Coin Stakes at Saratoga because he hasn’t won a stakes race this year. It’s not because the 7-year-old has run poorly.

Disco Partner finished third behind World of Trouble in the Grade 1 Jaipur at Belmont Park in June and was beaten less than a length by Leinster in a course-record time in the Troy Stakes here on Aug. 3.

Friday, Disco Partner figures to be a heavy favorite in the Lucky Coin, a 5 1/2-furlong turf stakes restricted to horses who have not won a stakes in 2019. Disco Partner, a 7-year-old son of Disco Rico, has won 11 of 31 starts, including seven stakes. His career purse earnings of $1,469,560 are more than those of his eight rivals combined ($1,259,873).

“The good news is he’s eligible for probably the weakest race he’s run in for quite a while. The bad news is he has to carry a tremendous amount of weight because of the conditions of the race,” Clement said. “He’s doing very well.”

Disco Partner carries 124 pounds, the same as Strike Power, who is a graded-stakes winner on dirt. They both must concede 4 to 6 pounds to the rest of the field.

Disco Partner was beaten three-quarters of a length by Leinster in the Grade 3 Troy Stakes. The final time of the race was 1:00.23, which established a Mellon turf course record for 5 1/2 furlongs, one that was eclipsed by 0.02 two weeks later.

“Because of the way the race was run he was trapped inside and he had to come in between horses,” Clement said. “I usually prefer him to be a little bit on his own outside. If you believe in numbers his last race was very close to his lifetime top. I find that very rewarding.”

Disco Partner breaks from post 3 under Irad Ortiz Jr. There appears to be ample speed for him to sit behind with Fixed Point, Final Frontier, and Shekky Shebaz in the field.

Final Frontier was a sharp two-length winner in a 5 1/2-furlong allowance race on Aug. 4. Trainer Tom Albertrani believes Final Frontier was on the pace that day in part because he had the rail.

“He’s naturally fast anyway, he just took him up there,” Albertrani said. “Having a better draw this time around we don’t really need to ask him a whole lot, but we’re not going to take away anything that comes easily. I expect to see another big effort from him.”

A wild card in the field is Mustaaqeem, who has made all four of his starts in South Africa and hasn’t raced in 16 months. He is trained here by Kiaran McLaughlin.

Fig Jelly, second to World of Trouble in the 2018 Quick Call Stakes here, Square Shooter, and Lonhtwist complete the field.