Sainthood shows versatility with Pennine Ridge win

ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Todd Pletcher didn’t think Sainthood ran that poorly in the Kentucky Derby that he wouldn’t race him on the dirt again. But, following his 11th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby four weeks ago, Pletcher worked Sainthood twice on turf and liked what he saw enough to want to try him on that surface.

That was the idea of entering Sainthood in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Pennine Ridge Stakes, scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on turf, at Belmont Park.

Mother Nature had other ideas.

Considerable rain that started Friday and lasted throughout Saturday forced all six scheduled turf races at Belmont on Saturday to be run on the main track.

Sainthood, whose only win from four previous starts came on the dirt, battled back when passed by The Reds in midstretch and edged clear to a one-length victory in the Pennine Ridge, run at 1 1/8 miles over a sealed, sloppy main track.

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The Reds, who was also poised to try turf for the first time, finished second by five lengths over Shawdyshawdyshawdy. Safe Conduct was fourth followed by Minuteman.

Hard Love, Step Dancer, Shaftesbury, and Public Sector all scratched due to the surface change.

“He ran a pretty solid race in the Derby, didn’t disgrace himself by any means,” said Pletcher, who trains Sainthood for WinStar Farm and China Horse Club. “His two works on the turf were pretty impressive, we came into today hoping to get him on the turf, but it’s great to have one as versatile as he is.”

Pletcher likened Sainthood’s versatility to his sire Mshawish, a Grade 1 winner on turf and dirt trained by Pletcher.

In February, Sainthood won a 1 1/16-mile dirt race at Fair Grounds by a nose before finishing second in the Jeff Ruby Steaks over Turfway’s synthetic surface in March. In the maiden win, Sainthood displayed some immaturity once he made the lead.

Pletcher told jockey Joel Rosario that he would like Sainthood to have a target, though looking at the past performances of the other horses, he didn’t see a viable front-runner.

After Sainthood broke on top, Shawdyshawdyshawdy went to the front under John Velazquez. Sainthood stalked that rival before taking a short lead with three furlongs remaining. At that point, The Reds, under Kendrick Carmouche, was making a menacing three-wide move to the outside of Sainthood.

In upper stretch, The Reds poked a head in front, but once Sainthood switched leads, he found some more with which to battle back and gradually edged away from The Reds.

“He looked around a little bit, the other horse came to me, I knew at some point he was going to come back and fight again and he did,” Rosario said.

Pletcher said in the paddock he told Rosario “If you’re fortunate enough to make the lead, he might idle on you a little bit. When he made the lead, he got a little bit lost and that horse put a head in front of him and he fought back.”

Sainthood covered the 1 1/8 miles in the slop in 1:50.57 and returned $3.80 as the odds-on choice.

As a result of the surface switch, the Pennine Ridge could be downgraded pending a review by the North American Graded Stakes Committee. It is designed to be a steppingstone to the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Derby on July 10.

Pletcher said the Belmont Derby would be “towards the top of the list” of next-race options for Sainthood.