Studlydoright wins the Tremont (Angelo Lieto)
NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— A return trip to upstate New York is not out of the question for David Hughes’ Maryland shipper Studlydoright, who became a history-making stakes winner in Thursday’s 126th running of the listed $150,000 Tremont.
The 5 1/2-furlong Tremont for 2-year-olds kicked off the first stakes action at the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course, where the traditional summer meet begins in mid-July and runs through Labor Day.
“First stakes win in June in Saratoga ever, right?” the Laurel Park-based trainer John “Jerry” Robb said. “The horse came out of it great. He shipped back a few hours after the race and everything’s good.”
Robb celebrated Thursday evening in Saratoga with his wife, Gina, and was headed back Friday morning to Maryland, where he had three horses entered at Laurel. Looking at the replay of Studlydoright’s come-from-behind 1 3/4-length victory at odds of 13-1 off a 4 1/2-furlong debut score at Laurel left Robb in awe.
“I went back and watched it again. It was an impressive late kick,” he said. “At the eighth pole, I was just hoping he would get up and get third. I didn’t see that big kick coming. Honestly, I didn’t even know what I had. None of us knew. He had run the one time in the slop and he was jumping up and down the whole way. It was impressive.”
Robb was involved in the purchase of Studlydoright, bred in Maryland by Glenangus Farm. He is by champion Nyquist and out of the Hall of Famer Curlin mare Peach of a Gal, who is a half-sister to graded stakes-placed Concealed Identity. Studlydoright fetched $110,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling sale last October after failing to reach his $185,000 reserve at Keeneland a month earlier.
“I knew the pedigree pretty good. I was around when [late trainer] Eddie Gaudet had Concealed Identity. It’s the same family. I just knew the family well,” Robb said. “They’re all different. The last couple I’ve had, you try to get your speed horses ready early because the races are so short. This is a distance horse, so it’s kind of different, but I’ve always said a good horse can win at any distance.”
The Grade 3, $175,000 Sanford for 2-year-olds sprinting six furlongs July 13 at Saratoga is a possibility for Studlydoright, representing another progression in both distance and class and offering more spacing from the Tremont than the listed Bashford Manor June 30 at Churchill Downs, also going three-quarters of a mile.
“We really haven’t talked about it. We were thinking about the race in Kentucky, the Bashford Manor, but that’s back a little quick. At Saratoga they come back with a race going three-quarters in mid-July which is a little better,” Robb said. “The owner is very involved, so I’ll discuss everything with him.”
