Leon Blue (inside) comes out on top in the Rick Violette (NYRA/Coglianese)
Mary Eddy/NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – AWC Stables, Gold Square, Paul Braverman and Scott Akman’s Leon Blue made his stakes debut a winning one in Thursday’s $150,000 Rick Violette, 1 1/16-mile Mellon turf test for New York-bred sophomores, at Saratoga Race Course.
The win provided jockey Chris Elliott and trainer Melanie Giddings with their first Saratoga stakes victories, and came on the heels of a nose loss to returning rival Outsource in a 1 1/16-mile state-bred allowance on June 4 here in the son of Mo Town’s second start off a nearly six-month respite.
“That was an unlucky head bob [last time],” said Giddings, whose former trainee Mel’s Baby Sister was named the Down Broadway Retired Racehorse of the Year earlier this afternoon at the Spa. “Chris rode the horse perfect; the horse was just a little sharp going his first two turns off the layoff. He was bound to be fresh, and I think he got a little tired on him late. We made a couple of equipment adjustments today – cut back the blinkers a little bit and he was fitter today to go the two turns, so we knew we were sitting in a good spot.”
The Giddings barn shares several connections to the late trainer Rick Violette, who served as a New York Thoroughbred Horseman’s Association (NYTHA) President and spearheaded the creation of the TAKE2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program and TAKE THE LEAD Retirement Program. Giddings’ Belmont Park-based assistant Melissa Cohen was a longtime assistant to Violette, and stable employee Fausto Flores, who was onsite, also worked for the multiple Grade 1-winning conditioner.
“It meant a lot,” Giddings said of the victory. “I have some of the best of Rick’s crew and they miss him a lot every day. They talk about him all the time still, so it’s meaningful that we could win that for him today. I feel like he was looking down on us.”
Leon Blue emerged sharply from post 4-of-5 and showed speed as he did in his last outing, but Ricardo Santana, Jr. was intent on taking command aboard Sounds Like a Plan and did just that along the inside to take a clear lead through the opening quarter-mile in 23.29 seconds over the firm footing.
Sounds Like a Plan spurted to a four-length lead down the backstretch with the field in a single-file line before Smooth Breeze swept up alongside Leon Blue as those two inched closer to the freewheeling pacesetter. Santana, Jr. remained committed to his position, and coaxed his charge to open up again through the half-mile in 47.31.
Elliott shook the reins rounding the turn as Flavien Prat did the same aboard the favored Smooth Breeze, but Sounds Like a Plan remained in command into the stretch after three-quarters in 1:11.08.
Santana, Jr. went to a right-handed stick and kept his pursuers at bay until the final sixteenth, but Leon Blue was rolling between his two rivals and had his neck in front as he and Smooth Breeze put away the pacesetter in the final strides. A determined Leon Blue maintained that margin through the wire to deny Smooth Breeze the victory in a final time of 1:41.34.
LEON BLUE gets his first stakes win in the Rick Violette Stakes with Christopher Elliott up for trainer @MGRacing_. pic.twitter.com/fq6Bzgf0mw
— NYRA () (@TheNYRA) July 17, 2025
Sounds Like a Plan finished three-quarter-lengths back in third with Outsource and I’m Due completing the order of finish. River of Time was scratched.
Elliott said the race went according to plan.
“He broke sharp. I was studying the race, I knew the two [Sounds Like a Plan] was going to go and he did,” Elliott said. “So, I followed him. I saved ground on the fence. When we hit the quarter-pole, I went left-handed and he really responded, he really dug in, and he came back and fought on for me.”
The win was meaningful for Elliott, the son of veteran rider Stewart Elliott who began riding races last year and earned his fourth career stakes victory.
“It’s unreal, this is the place to be,” Elliott said. “I am very fortunate to have gotten all of the support here. I really appreciate all the trainers and everyone who has given me the opportunity.”
Bred by Cheryl Prudhomme and Dr. Michael Gallivan, Leon Blue was a $100,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Preferred New York-bred Yearling Sale and is out of the unraced Shackleford mare Alana’s Allure. He banked $82,500 in victory while returning $15.60 on a $2 win ticket.
Live racing resumes Friday at Saratoga with a 10-race card, featuring the Grade 2, $200,000 Shuvee in Race 8. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
