Under sweet ride by Franco, Spirit of St Louis gets back in the win column in West Point
:quality(75))
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Spirit of St Louis was the class of the West Point Stakes field on paper. A two-time Grade 1 winner facing New York-breds for just the third time in two years would appear to have an advantage.
But at age 7, Spirit of St Louis has clearly lost a step. And despite a gaudy record of 11 wins from 23 starts, he was just 1 for 7 at Saratoga. Chad Brown, his trainer, knew all of this. But he also knew his horse was training well this summer in Saratoga. He told jockey Manny Franco with the right trip, Spirit of St Louis could “overcome the fact he’s a couple of lengths slower on this turf course,” Brown said.
As has been the case almost all summer, Franco gave Spirit of St Louis the right trip.
Saving ground while in fourth behind a contested pace in the 1 1/16-mile turf race, Spirit of St Louis wheeled into the four path turning for home and outfinished Sounds Like a Plan to win the West Point by a half-length. Sounds Like a Plan, who also received a dream trip under Ricardo Santana Jr., held second by a nose over the late-running George Briggs.
Mi Bago, the 4-5 favorite, finished fifth after dueling with Itsallcomintogetha, who finished seventh in the eight-horse field.
The victory was the 12th from 24 starts for Spirit of St Louis andhis ninth stakes win. The $110,000 winner’s share of the purse put his career earnings at $2,035,000. It was his first win since he captured the Turf Classic at Churchill Downs in May 2025.
“I did think at the beginning of the year he was losing a step,” Brown said. “It’s funny, he came here to train at Saratoga and he’s thrived, but the turf courses, numbers-wise they’ve just never been his favorite courses. He’s had a great career, just not here at Saratoga.”
His only previous win at Saratoga came in an allowance race versus New York-breds in July 2023.
Brown put his faith in what he was seeing and how Franco has been riding. Franco saved all the ground down the backside on Spirit of St Louis and followed Ricardo Santana Jr. on Sounds Like a Plan. That horse wrested the lead from Mi Bago inside the eighth pole, but Spirit of St Louis pounced on him and got the job done.
“He’s having a career meet in the middle of his career year,” Brown said. “Anytime you have Manny Franco on your horses you feel very confident going in, and I’m just so very proud of him and happy for him because he works hard.”
Franco won two races on Friday and now has 56 wins at the meet, good enough for second place in the standings, eight behind Jose Ortiz with eight days remaining. Franco is 8 for 41 for Brown at the meet.
Spirit of St Louis, a 7-year-old gelding by Medaglia d’Oro owned by Madaket Stables and Michael Dubb, covered the 1 1/16 miles over firm turf in 1:40.03 and returned $10.74 as the third choice.
Sounds Like a Plan had a three-race winning streak snapped and is still without a stakes victory, but trainer Horacio De Paz was more than satisfied with the performance.
“No excuses, he ran well,” De Paz said. “He sat behind those two horses and he fought hard to the wire, so proud of him. It was a solid field, they all fit open company, too.”
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.
