Sticksstatelydude gets year started in rich allowance sprint

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Sticksstatelydude ended his 3-year-old season with a victory in the Grade 3 Discovery at Aqueduct last November, and he will make his first start since then in a $93,000 allowance race on Saturday’s Travers card at Saratoga.

Sticksstatelydude, a son of First Dude, was training toward a potential start in last January’s inaugural Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park when he reinjured a tendon while training at Palm Meadows in Florida.

After getting time off, Sticksstatelydude started training in Kentucky, where he shows six workouts at Churchill Downs leading up to his return. As he has done in his previous trips to New York, Sticksstatelydude will run under Kiaran McLaughlin’s name. He has been in training at Churchill Downs with Greg Burchell, a co-owner who sometimes trains the colt.

McLaughlin said the 6 1/2 furlongs of Saturday’s race is not ideal for Sticksstatelydude, though he did win a maiden race going six furlongs here two years ago.

“It’s his first time out in a long time,” McLaughlin said. “It’s okay, we need to get him started. These kind of races don’t go anywhere in the country, but they go here.”

Among his opponents is Threefiveindia, who defeated Sticksstatelydude in a first-level allowance race at Churchill Downs in June 2016 going 6 1/2 furlongs.

The others entered are Aquamarine, Ostrolenka, Lex Vegas, Angry Moon, Shaft of Light, Spartiatis, and Candid Desire.