Saratoga Harness: Inside post gives Leonidas A distinct advantage in Gerrity

Racing Secretary Peter Iovino did an outstanding job sending out invitations for Saturday's $150,000 Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial at Saratoga Harness. The eight finalists comprise a stellar group of the best pacers in training.

What Iovino wouldn't know, until after the posts were drawn, was just what kind of betting race would be established. When world champion and division leader This Is The Plan landed post seven and the brilliantly-fast phenom Nicholas Beach drew post eight, the race effectively became a handicap. On the opposite side of the equation was Leonidas A. Hampered by post seven in the MGM Borgata Pacing Series final in April at Yonkers, the import landed the pole position in the eight-horse field.

"He can definitely leave out of there," said trainer Jeff Gregory, who has conditioned the 6-year-old son of Mach Three for the last month. "I was a little disappointed by his effort last Saturday. The conditions were bad, and I thought he should have finished better."

Gregory's assessment of the William Haughton division sixth-place finish did not dampen his spirits for this Saturday's contest.

"Austin (Siegelman) was driving the horse before I got him, and he's done an outstanding job. I'm confident he'll be able to get away well from the inside," Gregory said.

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A winner seven times this year in 11 starts, Leonidas A has been most effective when he's been close to the pace. Last year he showed a propensity for coming from off-the-pace, as he did most famously in an upset victory in the Potomac Pace over Bettor's Wish at Rosecroft. Yet a look at this year's past performances indicates that when he has been stuck near the back of the pack, he's finished off-the-board.

Given the post draw, the Gerrity promises to be a rather interesting race with the first turn likely deciding just how quick the pace will be. This Is The Plan (Yannick Gingras) has overcome the outside draws in the past and floored his competition back in the Borgata final where he wired the field from post eight. Post seven puts him one slot closer to the pole, but there may be more speed both inside and outside the veteran son of Somebeachsomewhere that has already earned $535K in 12 starts this year.

Backstreet Shadow (Tim Tetrick) landed post three and has shown over the last few years an ability to leave the gate. He's fresh off a solid second-place finish in the Haughton at the Meadowlands last Saturday.

Poseidon Seelster drew post six, and he's shown opening quarters in 25 3/5 on a few occasions at the Meadowlands. The Nik Drennan-trained 4-year-old has a 1:47 4/5 record taken this year in a leg of the Graduate Series.

While most of the horses mentioned above have shown a flair for the half-mile track, the jury is still out on perhaps the most-improved horse of 2021, that being Nicholas Beach. While the 5-year-old son of Somebeachsomewhere did win a pair of races at Yonkers late last year quite easily, the level of competition in no way represents what he'll see on Saturday night.

"Nicholas Beach is a fantastic horse that is extremely versatile," said Joe Bongiorno. "As big as he is, he gets around all tracks the same, which is a great thing."

Anyone that has witnessed the breathtaking speed that driver Joe Bongiorno has gotten out of the gelding trained by his sister Jenn would be expecting big things from the horse despite the poor draw. Last Saturday, Nicholas Beach paced to a 1:47 4/5 mile, cruising in a qualifier at the Meadowlands off by himself. He showed extreme speed at both ends of the Commodore Barry over the five-eighths-mile track at Harrah's Philadelphia on May 30 in his last pari-mutuel start.

"Obviously post eight makes our job tough, but he can do it both ways, and he has very good gate speed," said Joe Bongiorno.

While the half-mile track has not always been favored by Western Joe, the veteran speedster showed some toughness and grit in a second-place finish in This Is The Plan's world-record setting 1:47 3/5 mile in the Battle of Lake Erie at Northfield Park on June 5. Western Joe drew post five for the Gerrity.

Mach N Cheese, the former stablemate of Western Joe, has had a solid year for trainer Edwin Quevedo, including a nice third-place finish in the Borgata final. He drew post two on Saturday night.

Trainer Ron Burke has three chances with Rockapelo (post four) joining Backstreet Shadow and This Is The Plan in the elite field.

There will be 15 races on Saratoga's stakes-filled program with five divisions of the New York Sire Stakes for 2-year-old pacing colts and geldings supporting the featured Gerrity. First post is listed at 6:45 p.m.