Siyouincanada makes it look easy in Gio Ponti score
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Saratoga Springs, N.Y. – Trainer Joe Sharp said his instructions to jockey Kendrick Carmouche going into Monday’s$200,000 Gio Ponti Stakes aboard Siyouincanada were simple: “Ride him how you want. Just win.”
Carmouche followed those instructions to perfection, guiding the lightly raced but steadily improving 3-year-old to a gate-to-wire, 2 1/4-length victory over Third Coast in the final stakes of the 2026 Saratoga racing season.
Siyouincanada entered the one-mile Gio Ponti for 3-year-olds as the least experienced member of the field, with only three previous starts on his résumé, including a third-place finish against older horses in an entry-level allowance race here four weeks ago. But the French-bred son of Siyounicanada ran like a seasoned veteran from start to finish.
Siyouincanada dragged Carmouche to the lead entering the clubhouse turn and controlled the pace under confident handling. The leader opened a comfortable advantage under a series of right-hand sticks upon settling into the stretch and was never seriously threatened thereafter.
Third Coast, winner of the Jersey Derby at Monmouth Park during the spring, rated close up after an alert beginning, saved ground throughout, loomed a brief threat through midstretch, but could not sustain the bid while easily second best.
Glavine raced near the rear of the field but only about five lengths off the pacesetter in the run down the backstretch, rallying mildly down the center of the course to finish third. He was followed, in order, by Bull Shoals, Chummers, Doubting Thomas, Lyneham, Black Hornet, and Glorious Boy.
Siyouincanada, who was entered and scratched from the Grade 3 Old Dominion Derby at Colonial Downs on Monday, went postward as the tepid favorite in the field of nine 3-year-olds and returned $8.54 to win after completing the distance in 1:34.71 seconds over a firm course.
“He was training well, and we wanted to pick the right spot for his next start. And staying here rather than taking him to Colonial seemed like the path of least resistance,” said Sharp, who watched the race with his family at Kentucky Downs. “I also felt like the flat mile suited him, as did Kendrick’s riding style.”
Despite his horse’s relative inexperience, Sharp said he had a lot of confidence in Siyouincanada coming into the race.
“When he ran last time and finished third, he showed a new dynamic, the ability to stalk, and I thought it was a sneaky good race. And that gave me a lot of confidence to try him in this spot back against 3-year-olds,” said Sharp, who added that Siyouincanada would ship to Churchill Downs with his next start still to be determined.
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