Sayaad fires off long layoff in Forbidden Apple
ELMONT, N.Y. - Jose Ortiz and Sayaad both returned off layoffs - the jockey’s quite a bit shorter than the horse’s - in fine fettle Friday at Belmont Park as Ortiz guided Sayaad to a front-running, 2 1/4-length victory in the $100,000 Forbidden Apple Stakes.
Sayaad, a 4-year-old son of Street Sense owned by Shadwell Stable and trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, was making his first start since last October, a layoff precipitated by foot issues. Ortiz, the third-leading rider of the meet, was returning from a three-day suspension precipitated by a careless riding infraction. It was Ortiz’s second win on the card.
The Forbidden Apple scratched from an eight-horse field down to five due to rains that made for a yielding turf course. After the race, Javier Castellano, the rider of Forbidden Apple runner-up Kharafa - the even-money favorite - said he and other riders felt the Belmont turf courses shouldn’t have been used due to the rains that fell Wednesday night and Thursday.
“My horse struggled a little bit with the turf,” Castellano said. “I don’t think we should have been on it. It was in bad shape.”
There were six turf races scheduled on Friday’s card though two races - the fifth and 10th - were moved to the main track. Martin Panza, senior vice president of racing for the New York Racing Association, said only two-tenths of an inch of rain fell Wednesday night and another quarter of an inch fell Thursday before stopping in mid-afternoon.
“If the course can’t handle a half-inch of rain …” Panza said. “That said, if someone had come and said this is unsafe and dangerous, we don’t want any rider feeling like their safety or the safety of the horses are being endangered.”
When told that Castellano said the turf course was too soft to have been used, Ortiz said “I’d say the same thing. They told us they were going to move the rails so we tried but it’s pretty soft.”
Ortiz said Sayaad handled the ground well, but would probably prefer firm turf.
For Sayaad, the win was the third consecutive victory, a streak that began last summer at Saratoga, where he will most likely make his next start, possibly in the Grade 2 Fourstardave on Aug. 9 or Grade 2 Bernard Baruch on Aug. 30.
“The last month or two have been uninterrupted and he’s trained well,” McLaughlin said. “We’re thankful Shadwell’s patient and allowed us to try and get him right. He’s a very nice horse. I don’t know what we do next but we’re happy with this one.”
Sayaad covered the mile in 1:38.27 and returned $8.60 as the third choice in field of five.