Steady On has stakes breakthrough with Appleton

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Steady On, a bridesmaid in three previous stakes tries, finally broke through with a victory Saturday, overcoming a stubborn Churchtown to win the $150,000 Appleton Stakes by a half-length at Gulfstream Park.

Churchtown was second by two lengths over Fort Washington, who again left himself too much to do by breaking slow.

The win was the third on the card for owner Mike Repole, who owns two of those winners with Vinnie Viola. They still had Florida Derby favorite Forte to run in the day’s last race. The Appleton was the fifth win on the card for jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. and third for trainer Todd Pletcher, who are also the jockey and trainer of Forte.

Ortiz felt trips had compromised Steady On in a couple of his previous races, including a half-length defeat to Emmanuel in the Grade 3 Canadian Turf. On Saturday, Steady On was able to sit fourth behind a solid pace before tipping to the outside at the head of the lane.

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“It was the first time I was able to ride him like that,” Ortiz said. “You watch the last couple of races I had to be outside of another horse chasing the speed.

“Today there was a lot of speed,” Ortiz added. “I let him break, when I got my position I wanted to wait and ride him like a turf horse, behind the pack, behind the speed and everything worked out.”

Steady On did have to fight to get by Churchtown, who had set the pace under Luis Saez in his first start since a seventh-place finish in the Tropical Park Derby, a race rained off the turf to the Tapeta and one in which Steady On finished second.

“He’s a fighter, he tries hard every time even when it came off and he ran on the synthetic,” Pletcher said of Steady On. “When he came by me, I thought he had [Churchtown] but that other horse fought gamely.”

Steady On, a 4-year-old son of Pioneerof the Nile, covered the mile in 1:34.49 and returned $5.80 as the favorite.

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