Saint Leon cruises to third straight Arlington Sprint title
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ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. -- Saint Leon is a 9-year-old, and apparently everyone forgot to tell him.
Undiminished by age, Saint Leon burst to the lead at the start of the $75,000 Arlington Sprint and never looked back. He beat hard-charging Positive Side by one length while winning this stakes race for the third year in a row.
“He was really right today,” said jockey E.T. Baird, who has ridden Saint Leon to all three of his Arlington Sprint victories. “You could just tell he was really focused. You just knew that he was game on.”
Saint Leon, by Stravinsky, showed mild promise early in his career, way back in 2008, but he declined steadily and in the summer of 2009 was plucked out of a Mountaineer Racetrack $5,000 claiming race by owner Margaret Burlingame, who had been part of Saint Leon’s original ownership group.
“When I got him he was injured,” said trainer Michele Boyce. “He came in and took it day by day. He’s done nothing but improve.”
Saint Leon has run well on Polytrack but has been virtually unbeatable in Arlington turf sprint races: His victory Saturday gave him six wins from seven tries in short grass sprints on this course.
Saint Leon is a good gate horse on an average day, and Saturday, he was at his best, standing stock still, Baird said, from the moment he was loaded until the latch sprang. And then he was off. Saint Leon opened a length lead while running an opening quarter-mile in 22.92 seconds, a moderate tempo for a horse with his speed. Baird came to the top of the stretch asking for run – “I wasn’t going to wait for anybody,” he said – and Saint Leon carried a 2 ½- length lead to the stretch call. Positive Side, sixth in the early going, began cutting into the margin in the final furlong, but the wire came before he could make serious inroads. Another length behind Positive Side came Anyriderill Do, with Saint Leon stopping the timer in 1:03.45 for 5 ½ furlongs on good turf.
The winner, a gelded son of Stravinsky, paid $5.80 as the favorite. He won for the 15th time in 34 starts. And even at such an advanced age, Saint Leon does not appear to be slowing down.