Harlan's Harmony finishes fast to win Skidmore Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Overcoming a poor start, Harlan’s Harmony came with a flying finish to run down the loose-on-the-lead Wellabled and win Friday’s $100,000 Skidmore Stakes by a head at Saratoga.

It was the second win in as many starts for Harlan’s Harmony, a 2-year-old son of Spring at Last owned by the Curragh Stables and trained by John Terranova.

Harlan’s Harmony, a $75,000 purchase at the OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training, won his debut going six furlongs at Belmont by a length. Terranova is keen to stretch Harlan’s Harmony out in distance but opted to wait until the fall to do that as opposed to running in the With Anticipation Stakes going 1 1/16 miles here on Aug. 31.

“He gave us a good feel all along; we thought he could do this,” Terranova said. “We wanted to see him mature a little bit, get a little battle tested before we stretched him out.”

Under Angel Arroyo, Harlan’s Harmony was bumped at the break and was last for the first few strides before moving into fifth down the backside. He was fifth, five lengths behind Wellabled, the 8-5 favorite, who set fractions of 21.59 seconds for the quarter and 44.74 for the half-mile.

Turning for home, Arroyo swung Harlan’s Harmony four wide, and he rallied stoutly to get up in the final strides. Harlan’s Harmony covered the 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:03.26 and returned $9 as the third choice.

Wellabled finished second by 4 1/4 lengths over Freud’s Friend. Gemologister, Iron Mane, and Mbrace Grace completed the order of finish.

“We figured we’d be back a little bit, there’d be some pace to run at, and we wanted to see him running well late and finishing well,” Terranova said. “Thankfully, we got up. Once we give him a little more ground to run over, he’ll be all set for that.”

Terranova will have plenty of options to stretch Harlan’s Harmony out in distance this fall, including the Grade 3, $200,000 Pilgrim Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Belmont Park on Oct. 1.