John the Beer Man has bumpy road on way to Troy triumph
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - John the Beer Man survived a torrid stretch duel, a bumping incident approaching the wire, and a near 10-minute stewards inquiry before ultimately being declared the winner of Sunday’s $300,000 Troy Stakes at Saratoga.
John the Beer Man entered the Grade 2 Troy off a very game third-place finish behind Reef Runner in the Grade 1 Jaipur here two months ago. It was his first loss in three starts after returning from a near 2-year layoff with trainer Rob Atras last winter at the Fair Grounds.
John the Beer Man was one of several speed horses entered in the 5 1/2-furlong Troy, but proved the quickest of the bunch when sprinting clear under jockey Kendrick Carmouche in the run down the backstretch. John the Beer Man entered the stretch with a clear advantage, was joined by Waralo and Doncho through the furlong grounds, relinquished the advantage briefly in late stretch, then fought back on the rail to prevail by a head despite a good deal of bumping among the three leaders in the shadow of the wire.
Waralo, in peak form having won stakes races in each of his previous two tries, found himself in unfamiliar territory racing from off the pace after having been on the early lead in each of his last six starts. Waralo came three wide rallying into the stretch, appeared to stick his head in front briefly between calls near the sixteenth marker, but could not last while also jostled around quite a bit in the closing yards.
Doncho, like Waralo, had captured stakes in his two previous outings and is another who is rarely headed for the lead during the early stages of his races. He was rated back off the pacesetting John the Beer Man following an alert beginning, split the top two and loomed boldly between horses through midstretch, then took the worst of the bumping when knocked about and forced to steady back before ultimately beaten just a couple of heads at the end.
Following a steward’s inquiry and claim of foul by jockey Ricardo Santana on Doncho against the top two finishers, Waralo was disqualified from second and placed third for causing interference in the stretch run.
Twenty Six Red, the 7-5 favorite, angled four wide to within easy striking distance in early stretch but could not sustain the bid, finishing another 1 1/4 lengths farther back in fourth.
John the Beer Man is trained by Atras for the partnership of Michael Caruso and Michael Dubb. He covered the distance over a firm course in 1:00.97 seconds and paid $8.92 while earning not only the first graded stakes win but the first stakes victory of any kind in his seven-race career.
“I left everything up to Kendrick and he broke running, and he said it didn’t look like Doncho intended to go for the lead, so he took it,” Atras said. “I was happy. He looked like he was comfortable and down the lane it look like he waited on them and then re-engaged, although I thought he was beaten. I thought he was going to run third. Obviously the long inquiry was very scary, but I thought we were good. I’m just really thrilled with this horse. He’s been a godsend.”
Michelle Lovell, who trains Doncho, was obviously pleased her horse got elevated one spot to second, but felt he was bothered by both horses and should have been ultimately declared the winner.
“I know it’s hard to take two horses down in a race, but I thought he did nothing wrong and that he got bothered by both horses equally,” Lovell explained. “The inside horse came out and the outside horse came in hard. Santana said he thought he was a winner for sure if he wasn’t interfered with. He got bounced around hard, not just itty, bitty bumps, for many steps.”
Jose Lezcano, who rode Waralo, felt it was Santana and Doncho who initiated all the contact.
“My horse got bumped by the number three (Doncho) the whole stretch,” Lezcano said. “He (Santana) was trying to make his own hole. I don’t know what he was doing.”
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