Giacosa brightens Bond's mood after Yaddo Handicap score
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – About an hour after his 4-5 favorite Rinaldi finished fifth after being forced into a torrid pace during the early going of the West Point Stakes, it seemed like poetic justice for trainer H. James Bond when his steadily improving filly Giacosa rallied to a three-quarter-length victory over 123-pound highweight Myhartblongstodady in Friday’s $150,000 Yaddo Handicap for New York-bred fillies and mares on turf.
“You didn’t want to talk to me a half-hour, 45 minutes ago,” Bond said immediately after the Yaddo while referring to his disappointment in both the outcome and the way the West Point had unfolded for Rinaldi. “We’ll live to fight another day, hopefully, with Rinaldi. But as we all know, that’s the way the game is. It beats you up one minute and every once in a while it gives you a little breather and says stay in the game a little longer dummy.”
Giacosa, who defeated second-level New York-bred allowance competition here earlier in the meet, broke out at the start and raced near the rear of the 10-horse field after the opening half-mile of the 1 1/16-mile Yaddo. She circled rivals while advancing rapidly into the stretch, took command approaching the furlong marker, edged clear, and then withstood Myhartblongstodady’s final surge. It was another 1 1/4 lengths further back to third-place finisher Classic Lady.
Chocolate Cookie got bumped at the start, raced wide during the early going, came wider into the stretch, and was never a serious factor, finishing fifth as the somewhat surprising 5-2 favorite.
Giacosa is a 4-year-old daughter of Tizway owned by Bond Racing Stable. She completed the distance in 1:42.54 under leading rider Luis Saez and returned $20.80.
“Giacosa has been working with Rinaldi and really telegraphing it,” Bond said. “I think she’s a little better two-turn horse. She gets lost at Belmont. She has a nice pedigree, her sisters can run, her mother was a good filly, and she was telling me she was right. That was a big win for us. We started out pretty hot and then boy, oh boy, I tell you we hit a wall. But we’ve got some more to fire with, Luis has given me plenty of calls, and I think we can win a couple more.”