Discreetly Mine romps in Amsterdam

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Any doubts as to what direction Discreetly Mine would be taking the remainder of the year were erased in 1:14.27 on Monday. That was the time it took the explosive 3-year-old to complete 6 1/2 furlongs en route to a decisive 8 3/4- length victory over Essence Hit Man and eight other overmatched rivals in the $150,000 Amsterdam.

After winning the Grade 2 Risen Star in his second start at 3, trainer Todd Pletcher put Discreetly Mine on a path that ultimately led to a 13th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. But since shortening up to one-turn races following the Derby, Discreetly Mine has become a top-class sprinter, with his performance in the Grade 2 Amsterdam his best yet.

Breaking alertly under a red-hot John Velazquez, Discreetly Mine rated off the early pace of the swift Canadian invader Essence Hit Man, who cut out lightning fast fractions of 21.45 and 44.07 seconds for the opening quarter- and half-mile. Discreetly Mine turned up the heat and joined the leader entering the stretch, readily forged to command nearing the three-sixteenths marker then steadily pulled away to his convincing victory.

Essence Hit Man was second-best, easily outlasting In Jack’s Memory who finished a well-beaten third.

Discreetly Mine paid $3.20, his final time just .53 of a second off the track record set by stable mate Quality Road when he captured the 2009 Amsterdam. The victory gave Velazquez his sixth stakes win of the meet. It was also the third for Pletcher.

“The way he was training all winter I really thought we were on the Derby trail in a legitimate way,” said Pletcher. who trains the homebred Discreetly Mine for the E Paul Robsham Stables LLC. “But now that we’ve backed up in distance he’s really found his niche.”

Pletcher said the Grade 1 King’s Bishop on Aug. 28 would be the next obvious stop for Discreetly Mine.

“We’d certainly be thinking of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at this point, but that’s still a long ways off,” said Pletcher. “For now we’ll just see how he bounces out of this and go from there.”