Smart Transition gets the trip in Curlin

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Lesser company, more distance and an ideal trip combined to make Smart Transition a winner in Friday’s $100,000 Curlin Stakes at Saratoga.

Saving ground behind a three-ply speed duel down the backstretch, Smart Transition was tipped five wide and into the clear by Junior Alvarado turning for home, and despite drifting out in the stretch, Smart Transition righted himself late and galloped to a 4 3/4-length victory over Tekton. It was 2 1/2 lengths back to King of New York in third. He was followed by Battle Midway, Stanford and Unrivaled. Tommy Macho was scratched to run in Saturday’s $750,000 West Virginia Derby.

Smart Transition covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.40 and returned $6.30 as the third choice. A race later, the 3-year-old Gangster won a 1 1/8-mile maiden race in 1:49.71.

Smart Transition is a son of Smart Strike out of the mare Zardana,a graded stakes winner best known for defeating 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra in the 2010 New Orleans Ladies Stakes at Fair Grounds. Smart Transition is owned and bred by Arnold Zetcher and trained by John Shirreffs.

“For her first foal to be a stakes winner is something special for all of us involved,” said Shirreffs, who trained Zardana.

The win could earn Smart Transition a start in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes here on Aug. 29. V. E. Day, last year’s Curlin winner, came back to win the Travers. The first Curlin winner, Blame in 2009, defeated the Shirreffs-trained Zenyatta in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“I’ll talk to Mr. Zetcher about that and decide,” Shirreffs said. “The Travers? Saratoga? Come on.”

Shirreffs felt Smart Transition had “awkward trips” when third in an allowance race on June 6 and fourth in the Grade 2 Dwyer on July 4. Those races were around one turn. He had won a maiden race going two turns at Santa Anita on April 30.

“You saw how wide he was going around the turn [in the Dwyer],” Shirreffs said. “Obviously, two turns helps a horse like this.”

It also helped that Alvarado had Smart Transition sitting fourth behind Battle of Midway, Stanford and Tekton, who were within a half-length of each other through a half-mile in 47.70 seconds. Battle of Midway dropped out of the duel leaving the half-mile pole.

Smart Transition had to go wide approaching the quarter pole. He drifted out in upper stretch under Alvarado’s left-handed whipping, but when Alvarado went back to his right hand, Smart Transtion straightened out and drew clear.

“He did run away a little bit from the left-handed whip, but he was running, so I didn’t want to pull him to the inside because he was giving me a nice run,” Alvarado said. “As soon as I passed the sixteenth pole I geared down. I didn’t have anything else to ask him for.”