Sombeyay shrugs off stumble, rallies for Sanford Stakes win

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Sombeyay, the only member of the field with stakes experience, used that to his advantage and rallied from just off the pace to a hard-fought neck decision over Strike Silver in Saturday’s $150,000 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga.

Sombeyay stumbled at the start, then rallied from near the rear of the field to finish second, beaten less than a length, six weeks ago in the Tremont Stakes at Belmont Park. But with a cleaner beginning, he found himself much closer to the pace in the Grade 3 Sanford. So close, in fact, that jockey Javier Castellano actually had to check him back briefly off the heels of early leader Bano Solo entering the far turn. Sombeyay eased out at the top of the stretch, then responded to late urging, ultimately wearing down Strike Silver in the closing strides.

Strike Silver, a game wire-to-wire winner in his only previous start, forced the issue from the outset, gained the advantage leaving the furlong grounds but was unable to contain the winner while easily second-best. Whiskey Echo finished another 3 1/4 lengths farther back, getting up to be third despite jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. losing his stick near the sixteenth pole.

Sombeyay is owned by Starlight Racing and trained by Todd Pletcher, who won the Sanford for a record seventh time. A son of Into Mischief, Sombeyay completed six furlongs over a fast track in 1:10.35 and paid $7.70 as the tepid favorite in a field of eight 2-year-olds.

“I think in these early 2-year-old races, experience is huge and to have had two starts, as he did, is better than one,” Pletcher said. “I think that hurt us last time, when you could have argued he would have won with a little better start.”

Pletcher admitted he was surprised to see Sombeyay as close to the pace as he was down the backstretch.

“He showed a little more speed than I thought,” Pletcher said. “Javier had to take a hold of him at one point and it was good to see he had run on his mind. When he tipped out, he finished up nicely. He’s not a particularly impressive work horse, he’s not one to blow you away in the morning. He always runs better than he breezes, and we’re perfectly happy with that.”

Pletcher said with three races on his resume’, it’s likely Sombeyay would await the Grade 1 Hopeful on closing day, Sept. 3. Although he did leave the door open for bringing his latest 2-year-old star back in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special on Aug. 12.

“Waiting for the Hopeful would probably be the logical thing since he’s already had three starts,” Pletcher said. “But if he’s tearing the barn down, I won’t rule the middle one out.”