Hirsch Jacobs: Songster dominates

BALTIMORE - Songster dominated Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 , outsprinting Pagan Moon for the early lead and widening his advantage at every call to win by 10 lengths.

Valid Brush rallied to get up for second by a nose over Urban Guy. Pagan Moon, Mike'sgoodandtough, and We Miss You Nicko completed the order of finish.

Songster, under Edgar Prado, covered the six furlongs in 1:09.72 and returned $3.20 as the 3-5 favorite. Prado had him geared down the last 100 yards.

"He broke running out of the gate and it was all over," Prado said. "He did it all by himself. I used him a little bit, and in a few strides he was clear of the other horse and just galloping along nice and easy. There was plenty left. You could see he was looking around. He could see the cameras and everything. He came back like he didn't even run."

Songster, a son of Songandaprayer owned by Darley Stable and trained by Tom Albertrani, won for the second time in four starts. He was coming off a second-place finish behind Too Much Bling in the Bay Shore at Aqueduct, a race run over a sloppy track. Songster was making his first start at six furlongs after running seven furlongs in each of his first three starts.

"He was training a little better going into this race than the Bay Shore," Albertrani said. "Cutting back in distance wasn't going to be a problem. He's got a lot of speed, so we weren't concerned with that at all. I just told Edgar let him run where he's comfortable. He just rode him the way the horse wanted to be ridden."

Albertrani said Songster will most likely make his next start in the $250,000 Woody Stephens Breeders' Cup Handicap on June 10 at Belmont Park.