San Siro ends stakes-victory drought, takes Greenwood Cup
:quality(75))
BENSALEM, Pa. - After 11 unsuccessful tries in stakes company, San Siro finally achieved his first black-type victory Saturday, taking over at the five-sixteenths pole and drawing clear to a 4 1/4-length victory over favored Parchment Party in Saturday’s $150,000 Greenwood Cup at Parx Racing.
San Siro, a 5-year-old gelding by Classic Empire, had run second or third in four of his 11 previous stakes tries, but his breakthrough performance came in his first try at 1 1/2 miles on dirt.
“The distance was never going to be a question for him,” said Charlie Lynch, assistant to trainer Brendan Walsh who added that an allowance win going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga last month “was probably going to be as short as he wants to go, but he got it done. Coming in here, we were pretty confident going the mile-and-a-half today.”
San Siro really had just one horse to beat in the Greenwood Cup, that being Parchment Party, a multiple stakes winner at this 1 1/2-mile distance.
Under Tyler Gaffalione, San Siro raced an up-close fifth while three wide down the backstretch. Meanwhile, Parchment Party was last of nine under John Velazquez.
Going into the far turn, San Siro crept up alongside the pacesetting pair of Silent Mode and My Imagination before blowing past them at the five-sixteenths pole. In the stretch, Gaffalione stayed after San Siro with three right-handed hits and one-left handed with his crop and San Siro finished the job.
“I was going around the far turn, my horse was going really easy, it came into my head that [Parchment Party] was going to be coming,” Gaffalione said. “I didn’t want to play around too much, I got my horse going and he responded so well.”
San Siro, who improved his record to six wins from 23 starts, covered the 1 1/2-miles in 2:33.51 and returned $8.60 as the second choice.
San Siro is owned by a partnership consisting of Andrew Farm, Mountmellick Farm, Ocean Reef Racing, White Mountain Stables and Bryan Reed.
Parchment Party, who earlier this year won the Temperence Hill and Issac Murphy Memorial, both at 1 1/2-miles, was sent off the 3-5 favorite in the Greenwood Cup. Jockey John Velazquez said his horse was “just going through the motions” but ran well enough to salvage second by 1 1/2 lengths over Stronsino.
“I was in trouble at the five-eighths pole, I’m already asking to hold my position and I couldn’t hold it,” Velazquez said. “By the time I got to the three-eighths pole I saw the other horse go and I said ‘he’s really going to be hard to beat.’ But he ran well.”
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.
