Fire At Will runs down Blame the Booze to win off-the-turf With Anticipation Stakes
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When Wednesday’s $100,000 With Anticipation Stakes for 2-year-olds was rained off the turf to the dirt and scratched down to a four-horse field there was little downside for the connections of Fire At Will to stay in the race.
The way the horse had been training coupled with how successful a meet it has been for Kirk Wycoff’s Three Diamonds Farm and trainer Michael Maker made it a no-brainer really.
Under a patient ride from Irad Ortiz Jr., Fire At Will rallied from last and outfinished the pacesetting even-money favorite Blame the Booze to win the With Anticipation by a half-length. It was five lengths back to Zippy Baby in third. Winfromwithin was last.
American Monarch, the 7-5 morning line favorite, scratched due to the surface switch. Nathan Detroit was scratched due to a cough.
The With Anticipation was a Grade 3 scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on turf. Heavy morning rains forced all of Wednesday’s scheduled turf races at Saratoga to the dirt and the With Anticipation, which was shortened to seven furlongs, will be recorded as a listed stakes pending a review of the North American Graded Stakes Committee.
Fire At Will, a son of Declaration of War, had run only once before, finishing sixth behind American Monarch on the turf when he was wide and bobbled in mid-stretch.
Nolan Ramsey, the assistant to Maker, said Wycoff and Maker agreed to stay in the race based on how well the horse had trained since he finished a troubled sixth to American Monarch in his debut.
“He seemed to really get a lot out of his first start, he’s been pretty sharp since,” Ramsey said. “He worked a really nice half for us last time and talking to Mr. Wyckoff and Mike we all agreed we thought we ought to stay in, and glad we did.”
Ortiz wanted to keep the horse close to the pace, but he said Fire At Will didn’t have the speed to keep up early. Fire At Will was seven lengths back after an opening quarter in 22.60 seconds set by Blame the Booze.
Ortiz kept Fire At Will in obeyance before launching a bid around the far turn. When he got close to the leader, Blame the Booze drifted off the rail and Ortiz guided Fire At Will through the opening.
Blame the Booze tried to battle back in the lane, but Fire At Will was going the better of the two and edged away to get the victory.
“I thought to win the race I had to save all the ground that I can so I just stayed on the rail,” Ortiz said. “I was thinking of getting outside of [Blame the Booze] but I see the horse get out a little bit I so just stay on the rail and go for it.”
Fire At Will covered seven furlongs over a sloppy track in 1:23.14 and returned $8.20 to win as the third choice.
The win was the third of what would be four on the card for Ortiz, who, despite missing three days last week with a sore left wrist, has vaulted to the top of the jockey standings with 51 wins, two more than his brother Jose, who got shut out Wednesday.
“I want to win so bad, but things happen, I don’t want to complain about what happened,” said Ortiz, who was injured during a gate mishap on Aug. 26. “I stay quiet, stay at home, try to rest and I feel much better the last couple of days.”
The win was the 19th of the meet for Maker, which tied him for third in the standings with Christophe Clement. Todd Pletcher has 27, followed by Chad Brown.
Three Diamonds Farm now has eight wins, second to only Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables, which has 12 victories.