Emotional day for Delgado as Power Squeeze edges Candied in Alabama Stakes
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Fifty-one weeks ago, trainer Jorge Delgado walked out of Saratoga stunned, saddened, and silent after he watched New York Thunder, a sixteenth of a mile from a near-certain victory in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens, suffer a fatal breakdown.
On Saturday, back at Saratoga for another Grade 1 race, Delgado got to experience a whole different set of emotions as Power Squeeze outfinished favored Candied in a thrilling stretch drive to win the $600,000 Alabama by a head in a front of an announced crowd of 36,809 at Saratoga.
Delgado, who in the summer is based at Monmouth Park, said the events of last year were definitely on his mind when he came to the track.
“You cannot stop thinking about it when you come here,” Delgado said. “You see the same scenario, big crowd. … I dream my whole life before I was a trainer to win a Grade 1 here in Saratoga. I would watch Javier [Castellano] ride horses and I wasn’t even in the game. Last year, what happened was heartbreaking. To come back 350 days after and win a Grade 1, I have no words. It’s not like I have a hundred horses that can run every week in Grade 1s. You have certain ones that can do it. A year after I was crying, I’m crying with joy.”
It was the first Grade 1 victory for Delgado, a native of Venezuela who won his first race in the U.S. in 2017.
Power Squeeze was sent off the fourth choice, but with four stakes victories, she was the second-most accomplished filly in the field behind Grade 1 winner Candied.
Under Javier Castellano, Power Squeeze raced in seventh position while kept wide and in the clear down the backside. She had Candied, under Manny Franco, in front of her, both six or so lengths behind Chatalas, who, under Frankie Dettori, set fractions of 23.31 seconds for the quarter, 47.06 for the half, 1:11.92 for six furlongs, and 1:37.64 for a mile.
By the top of the lane, Candied had moved into second, alongside her Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate Miss Justify. In upper stretch, Chatalas came out into Miss Justify, who in turn brushed with Candied, impacting that filly’s momentum.
It took a few strides for Franco to get Candied going and when she did, Power Squeeze was coming from her outside. The pair battled head and head through the final sixteenth, with Power Squeeze getting up at the right moment.
Castellano said he learned at the Delaware Oaks, when Power Squeeze beat Sidamara by a nose, that his filly was a fighter - as long she’s on the outside of horses.
“She’s not really brave inside of horses, she gets a little intimidated and she doesn’t like the kickback too much,” Castellano said. “At the three-eighths pole I was right behind Candied. At the quarter pole I step out a little wide. I saw Candied and that was my horse, she encouraged me and [Power Squeeze] took off. At Delaware, she did it the same way, she hooked up with that other horse and carried us all the way.”
Power Squeeze, a daughter by Union Rags owned by Paula and Charles’ Cosgove’s Lea Farms, covered the 1 1/4 miles in 2:04.35 and paid $14.80 to win. She added the Alabama to graded stakes wins this year in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks and Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks, as well as listed stakes wins in the Suncoast at Tampa and the Cash Run at Gulfstream.
Candied seemed well positioned to give trainer Todd Pletcher his fifth victory in the Alabama, until she had her momentum stopped in upper stretch.
“Manny said when [Chatalas] came out and bumped everyone it knocked her off rhythm a little bit,” Pletcher said. “She regained her momentum late. She had her nose in front before and after the wire just not on the wire. Tough beat.”
Candied finished one length ahead of Just Basking, who was last early and had to rally widest of all in the stretch. She was 8 1/2 lengths better than Miss Justify, who was followed in the order of finish by Intricate, Chatalas, Neon Icon, and America’s Vow.
Power Squeeze has lost only twice this year, finishing well behind Thorpedo Anna in the Kentucky Oaks, run over a sloppy track, and the Grade 1 Acorn, run here in June. Delgado said he would like another shot at Thorpedo Anna and could get it in the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion at Parx Racing on Sept. 21.
“You only have these chances a certain amount of times in your training career,” Delgado said. “We faced her twice and we lost twice. But I feel like if it is the right surface and right distance for us, we might have a shot.”
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