Sinistra prevails in three-horse Evan Shipman photo

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Karl Grusmark always felt the longer the better for Sinistra. But finding true distance races around two turns isn’t easy on the New York Racing Association circuit.

Thursday, Grusmark got to run Sinistra 1 1/8 miles around two turns in the $100,000 Evan Shipman Stakes at Saratoga and the 4-year-old by Stonesider needed every inch of the muddy track to run down Big Business and Escapefromreality to win the Evan Shipman by a head. Big Business, the 8-5 favorite trying 1 1/8 miles for the first time, edged the pacesetting Escapefromreality by a neck for second.

The win was the fourth from 22 starts for Sinistra, owned by bred by Edward Shapoff’s Chevalier Stable.

“He keeps coming. He always keeps coming and I’ve always thought the longer he goes the better he goes,” Grusmark said. “This is the first time we actually got a mile and an eighth race in him.”

Actually, it was the third time. Sinistra had a troubled trip in such a race on March 30, 2013 where he finished eighth. Sinistra was beaten a neck in his last nine-furlong race last December.

Thursday, under Rosie Napravnik, Sinistra raced in a stalking position outside of Escapefromreality and Big Business. They were three abreast turning for home and Sinistra came with a late surge just before the wire to get the win.

Sent off as the longest shot on the board at 27-1, Sinistra returned $56 to win. He covered the distance in 1:51.96 over a muddy, tiring surface.

“Karl told he was kind of one-paced so not to be too far back and he is,” Napravnik said. “He just grinded away. He was absolutely stretching his neck out as far as he could to get the win.”

Big Business ran quite well, but just got a little tired late, according to his jockey Cornelio Velasquez.

“A mile and an eighth is a little far for him,” Velasquez said. “His best distance is seven-eighths or a mile. He settled in the race perfect, he finished okay, but he was a little empty the last sixteenth.”