Trombetta off to perfect start

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Michael Trombetta got his Saratoga meet off to a perfect start going 2 for 2 the first week. He won on opening day with the first-time starter Escape Fund ($71) and came back Friday to win a starter allowance with Universal Payday ($11.80).

“Pleasant way to get going,” Trombetta said.

Trombetta said he liked Escape Fund, a daughter of Lea, but was concerned whether she could overcome the inside post sprinting in her debut.

“I liked her; she had trained good,” Trombetta said. “What I didn’t like was getting the one hole first time out. I thought that would be a whole hell of a lot to overcome. It just worked out pretty good.”

Universal Payday had not raced for four months, owing in part to limited opportunities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“I didn’t know if he would be fit enough to do the mile and an eighth,” Trombetta said. “Half of our inventory hadn’t run in three, four, five months Pleasantly, he was fit enough.”

Trombetta also won races last week at Delaware, Woodbine, and Monmouth as he went 5 for 13 over a four-day period.

Trombetta’s next Saratoga starter is Thursday when he runs Souper Energizer in a maiden turf sprint. He has been running long since his debut last October.

Later in the meet, Trombetta has the 2-year-old Flight to Paradise to run long on the grass and Sweet Souper Sweet for the $85,000 Bolton Landing on Aug. 18. Sweet Souper Sweet won a maiden race over the synthetic surface at Woodbine.

Win Win Win, second in an allowance race to Complexity at Belmont in early July, will be nominated to the $85,000 Alydar Stakes on Aug. 9.