Salute the Stars notches third straight win with Pegasus Stakes
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Salute the Stars overcame trouble on Saturday to win his third consecutive race in the $150,000 Pegasus, which was part of the Haskell Preview Day program at Monmouth Park.
Salute the Stars edged Kingsbarns by a neck, while it was another 2 3/4 lengths back in third to Howgreatisnate.
The Pegasus was a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds and was the first of four stakes on the card. The field was scratched down to six with the defections of Moreau and Alternate Reality.
Salute the Stars ($7.80) was shuffled back after a slow start, hit traffic into the first turn, then settled in fourth on the backside as Subrogate set the pace with 1-2 favorite Kingsbarns in close pursuit. The opening quarter went in 23.71 seconds, the half-mile in 47.60 and six furlongs in 1:11.87.
Salute the Stars picked up the tempo on the final turn and continued to advance as Kingsbarns engaged Subrogate into the stretch and the pair battled. Kingsbarns emerged with the lead, but Salute the Stars continued closing with determination and caught the favorite a jump from the wire. The winner covered the distance on a fast track in 1:43.87.
“That was an impressive run,” said Brad Cox, who trains Salute the Stars. “He ran well, overcame a little bit of a troubled trip the first half of the race. He was able to settle and finished well.”
Joel Rosario was aboard the son of Candy Ride for his breeders, Gary and Mary West.
Cox said Salute the Stars has some options for his next start. The horse invaded from Churchill Downs.
“We may look at the Jim Dandy - or the Haskell,” Cox said. “It would be the most logical spot moving forward.”
The Grade 1, $1 million Haskell is set for July 22 at Monmouth. Cox won the race last year with Cyberknife. It will be run at 1 1/8 miles, a distance Salute the Stars won over in May at Churchill.
The Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy is at the same distance on July 29 at Saratoga.
Salute the Stars began his streak on turf, in a maiden special weight route last August at Ellis Park. He returned in May and captured an off-the-turf allowance at Churchill in a race that set him up for his stakes debut in the Pegasus.
He is now 3 for 4 for earnings of $210,960. Salute the Stars is out of Star Sighting, who is a full sister to millionaire Farrell and a half-sister to Grade 1 winners Carpe Diem and J.B.’s Thunder.
Rosario had a second stakes winner on the card, when he guided Catnip ($14.40) to victory in the Grade 3, $150,000 Monmouth.
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