Pat On the Back proves best in Saginaw Stakes

Pat On the Back, a runner-up in his last two stakes tries, turned the tables for his first win of the year in Friday’s $100,000 Saginaw Stakes at Belmont Park.

Breaking from the rail in the field of five New York-breds, Pat On the Back stumbled at the start but recovered quickly under Dylan Davis and was guided to the outside to track Hit It Once More through an opening quarter-mile in 23.55 seconds and a half in 46.13.

Pat On the Back and Wine Not, who had closely followed the top two, began to advance outside of Hit It Once More turning for home. Pat On the Back took a narrow lead between rivals as they straightened into the stretch and edged clear for a 1 3/4-length victory.

Wine Not was up for second, a half-length ahead of Hit It Once More, who weakened late to finish third.

“I just wanted to start him early, before the quarter pole, because I was a little worried about Twisted Tom maybe coming in late,” Davis said in a post-race television interview. “But I just wanted to get him going, and he held on great.”

Twisted Tom, a five-time stakes winner who was sent off as the 3-5 favorite in his first start off a nine-month layoff, was never involved and finished fourth.

The final time for 1 1/16 miles was 1:41.73 and the winner returned $4.70.

Jeremiah Englehart trains Pat On the Back for Harold Lerner, AWC Stables, and Nehoc Stables. The Saginaw marked Pat On the Back’s fifth victory in 19 starts, and the 4-year-old son of Congrats has now earned $534,282.