Sadie Lady shows trainer Atras' stable on the rise

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - At this time last year, trainer Rob Atras was gearing up for New York’s Claiming Championships, in which he had as many as 11 horses pointing to those 10 starter allowance races.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit and those races - as well as 11 weeks of racing - were canceled on the New York Racing Association circuit.

This year, the Claiming Championships will be run in less than two weeks. While Atras will likely have some to run, it won’t be nearly as many as he had hoped to start a year ago.

That’s both good and bad. While he still has plenty of claimers in his barn, Atras has gradually upgraded his stable over the last year. Evidence of that is he won his third stakes of Aqueduct’s winter meet on Saturday when Sadie Lady held on to take the $100,000 Correction Stakes by a head. Earlier this meet, Atras won the Grade 3 Toboggan with American Power and the Grade 3 Tom Fool Handicap with Chateau.

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“I’ve always wanted to focus on quality, not just quantity,” Atras said. “Obviously, our stable’s grown a little bit. I think we’ve upgraded our quality quite a bit, that was definitely key and one of my goals. That’s not to say I don’t love $10,000 and $20,000 claimers. Anytime I lead a horse I’d like to be a contender. That’s the focal point of the operation.”

On Saturday, Atras was more than competitive on many levels. He won four races starting with the first-time starter Saint Selby, a New York-bred 3-year-old gelding. He won with the $10,000 claimer Heavy Roller and the $16,000 claimer Storm Advisory before Sadie Lady won the Correction.

He followed that four-win day by going 1 for 3 on Sunday. Atras stands third in the standings with 20 wins from 88 starters, trailing Rudy Rodriguez (33 for 154) and Linda Rice (21 for 123). Last year, after COVID cut short the winter meet by six days, Atras’s 16 wins placed him third behind Rice (40) and Rodriguez (32). Perhaps more important than wins, Atras currently ranks third in purse money won this winter with $1,161,315 at this current meet.

The victory by Saint Selby could be significant in that it shows Atras can be successful with young horses. That horse, Atras said, came to him from another trainer in December and despite not having him fully cranked, he was able to win at first asking.

“He always showed ability, it just took a little while for him to come around,” Atras said. “He was a little heavy so we [gelded] him. I was a little surprised he did get the seven-eighths because I didn’t think he was 100 percent fit.”

Atras, who currently has about 38 horses at Belmont, said he plans to run more 3-year-olds that have either not yet started or are lightly raced. Among them are Raffinity, a daughter of Tonalist who raced once last year, and Maracuja, a daughter of Honor Code who won a maiden race by 3 3/4 lengths on Feb. 21 and is likely headed to an allowance race.

As for his current roster of stakes horses, Atras said he does not have an immediate plan for Sadie Lady, who earned an 84 Beyer Speed Figure for her head victory in the Correction.

Atras said he would nominate both American Power and Chateau to the Grade 1 Carter on April 3. American Power is also eligible for the Caixa Eletronica on March 27.

Though Chateau is perhaps better at six furlongs than seven, Atras said the horse’s affinity for Aqueduct and the lack of a six-furlong stakes in New York until May 8 will prompt him “to take a hard look at the Carter,” he said.