Say the Word rallies for Elkhorn Stakes victory

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Say the Word punctuated his recent Sovereign Award by rallying to win the Grade 2, $200,000 Elkhorn Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland.

Deftly handled by Luis Saez while resisting a pace that ultimately left the two front-runners resoundly defeated, Say the Word closed stoutly in the final quarter-mile to win the 1 1/2-mile Elkhorn by 1 1/2 lengths over Channel Cat, marking the sixth win from 29 career starts for the 6-year-old More Than Ready gelding. He paid $7.20 as second choice in a field of eight older horses after finishing in 2:28.26 over a course rated good.

“I was like, ‘I don’t want to let him go too early,’ ” said Saez, easily the leading rider through 11 of 15 days of the Keeneland spring meet. “I just tried to relax him, and he came back to me. When we came to the stretch, he was pretty good. He just took off and he win the race.”

Say the Word, bred by the legendary Sam-Son Farm and owned in partnership with Agave Racing Stable, was honored as the top older turf horse in Canada for 2020 at the Sovereign Awards on Thursday night.

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Say the Word has been based in Southern California since last fall with trainer Phil D’Amato, who now has won a remarkable 12 turf stakes in 2021 already. This was D’Amato’s first such win this year outside of his home base, Santa Anita.

Under cloudy skies and amid an unseasonable spring chill, longshot Epic Bromance led down the stretch the first time in the 36th running of the three-turn Elkhorn, with Tide of the Sea, the 2-1 favorite, lapped to his outside. Following the backstretch run and approaching the far turn, Tide of the Sea took over with ease, but then here they all came, with Say the Word among the first to pass.

Down the stretch, Channel Cat took a sustained challenge to Say the Word, but the red-and-gold Sam-Son colors went clear late, giving the Ontario-bred gelding his first victory since he captured the Grade 1 Northern Dancer in October at his longtime stomping grounds, Woodbine, when still trained by Gail Cox. The $120,000 winner’s share takes his career bankroll to $609,292.

Crafty Daddy persisted to be third, a neck behind Channel Cat, with Fantasioso a late-running fourth. Tide of the Sea, the only remaining starter among three original entries for trainer Mike Maker, faded badly to seventh, finishing ahead of only 31-1 Epic Bromance, who was eased. The other two Maker entries, Cross Border and Monarchs Glen, were early scratches.

The $2 exacta (2-9) paid $84.60, the $1 trifecta (2-9-3) returned $298.40, and the 10-cent superfecta (2-9-3-8) was worth $296.20.

Saez won three other races on the 10-race card, giving him 26 wins with four days remaining at a meet that runs through Friday.

The only remaining stakes at the meet is the filly-mare counterpart to the Elkhorn, the Grade 3 Bewitch, to be run on closing day. Churchill Downs opens its spring meet Saturday evening.