Just Beat the Odds overcomes layoff for first stakes win in Elite Power

Just Beat the Odds could not have been asked for much more in the Grade 3 Elite Power Stakes at Aqueduct on Saturday. Even after a layoff of nearly eight months and a taxing scramble for the early lead, the 5-year-old gelding still proved game in his graded stakes debut, kicking away to win by 2 3/4 lengths.

“Everything has come together,” trainer Greg Sacco said. “He has many gears, and the good horses have the gears – when they come to you, they have the ability to take off. He's a cool horse and all the credit goes to my son [assistant Will Sacco] and the staff in New York.”

Sacco had not entered Just Beat the Odds in a stakes since October 2023, when he finished second by a neck in the $125,000 Carle Place. His win in the Elite Power is a testament to his improvement as a 5-year-old, but that improvement has not come easily.

It has been hard for Sacco and his gelding to build momentum in 2025. The trainer gelded him before his return to Aqueduct in March, a six-length allowance victory with a 103 Beyer Speed Figure after 11 months on the shelf. But after a runner-up finish in April, he needed more time off to recover from another setback.

“The gelding has been a huge part of it,” Sacco said of the improvement as a 5-year-old. “He's had some nagging little setbacks and he's just a super talented horse. I'd like to string some races together with him now.”

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Shaking off the rust again on Saturday, the 7-5 favorite was uneasy in the gate and might have broken a step slow, but jockey Manny Franco knew it was important to get him in front early.

“That was my plan, to be on the lead,” Franco said. “I rode him once [in March] and won with him on the lead. I liked the way he did it, and I didn’t want to change anything in a small field.”

Trainer Linda Rice had two of the five runners in the six-furlong sprint, and both briefly vied for the early lead before Franco managed to urge Just Beat the Odds forward to lead by a head. He completed the opening quarter-mile in 22.46 seconds.

The Rice-trained gelding Acoustic Ave, who forced stablemate El Grande O and Full Moon Madness into tight quarters early on the backstretch, was never far off Just Beat the Odds and continued applying pressure through a half-mile in 45.64. Jockey Jose Lezcano pushed the 6-1 outsider to a short lead entering the far turn, and for a moment, it looked like he might pull away without any serious challengers behind.

Just Beat the Odds would have had several obvious excuses if he had caved to the pressure on his outside. But when Franco asked the gelding to dig in after so much time away, he offered a bold response, taking the inside path into the stretch and repelling Acoustic Ave’s bid with ease. He completed the six-furlong distance in 1:09.99 (100 Beyer Speed Figure) and paid $4.94 to win.

Acoustic Ave, who was left flagging in second, held on by a length over St. Jude, who made up late ground to take third for trainer Ben Perkins Jr.

Bred by the late Steve Brunetti of Red Oak Stable, Just Beat the Odds was the last horse he watched before passing away in April 2024. Now a graded stakes winner, the gelding seems to validate both Sacco and Brunetti with each start.

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