Patch Adams and Luis Saez score the Woody Stephens. (Chris Rahayel)
By Lynne Snierson
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There was no clowning around by Patch Adams in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun as he defeated a top-class field of 10 sophomore sprinters at Saratoga Race Course.
Co-owned by China Horse Club and breeder WinStar Farm and named for the famous physician and clown, Patch Adams stalked the pace under Luis Saez in the seven-furlong affair on the muddy track before assuming command by the eighth pole. In adding the race named for Hall of Fame trainer Woody Stephens – who won an unprecedented five straight Belmont Stakes from 1982-86 – to his resume, the bay colt scored his first stakes victory for his connections.
Earlier in the year the colt was on the Triple Crown trail and contested two Grade 3 races around two turns, but cutting back in distance did the trick, according to his two-time Eclipse-Award winning trainer Brad Cox.
“It is kind of odd to have a horse that breaks as well as he does going one turn but couldn’t get out of the gate going two turns. Once again, horses will make you scratch your head sometimes. We kind of scratched our heads this winter and into the spring but he turned it around at Churchill Downs and we cut him back and he responded again today,” said Cox, who also saddled 10th-place finisher Gunmetal.
Saez hustled Patch Adams right out of the gate and the pair stalked the pace set by Macho Music and Madaket Road through fleet fractions of 22.11, 44.40, and 1:08.73.
Patch Adams, while gaining ground near the quarter pole, was hustled to the outside and came charging into contention. He got in front in the final furlong, drew clear under steady urging from his rider, and finished in the quick time of 1:21.38.
It was 2 1/4 lengths back to Madaket Road, who was piloted by John Velazquez for fellow Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. Big Truzz was another 2 1/4 lengths behind under Hall of Famer Joel Rosario, with 2023 Champion 2-Year-Old Colt Citizen Bull completing the superfecta.
T Kraft, Gate To Wire, Macho Music, Chancer McPatrick, Neoequos and Gunmetal rounded out the order of finish [note Macho Music and Chancer McPatrick dead-heated for seventh]. Colloquial was scratched.
“Luis stayed after him. When I was watching him I was like, ‘well he’s asking him to press the leaders’ and hoped that he wouldn’t give way; he didn’t and finished up well,” Cox said.
Saez, who won the 2020 Woody Stephens on No Parole, termed the stretch run “pretty exciting”.
“This horse, I really like him. He was working pretty well and today he came with a good run,” said Saez. “That was the plan. We wanted to break from there and take a good position, and he did it. He was in a perfect spot the whole way,” said the rider. “I was very proud of him. I know he was going to come out of there running and he did. He found a good spot and, man, when he came to the top of the stretch he gave me a pretty good turn of foot.”
Madaket Road, despite breaking poorly and then brushing with a rival early on, put up a good fight with Patch Adams but was outfinished near the wire.
“We had a good enough break,” said Velazquez. “He stumbled right in the first jumps. I tried to catch up with that other horse [Macho Music] and I couldn’t. Then I got into the clear and we had a perfect trip. The other horse came home in front and was better than mine.”
On Saturday, Patch Adams sent the loud and clear message that he is best as a seven-furlong horse. The Grade 1, $500,000 Allen Jerkens Memorial on August 23 at Saratoga is on Cox’s radar for a future target.
“I would say probably one turn and I don’t think there is anything that would make us think about stretching him back out, but we will see how he comes out of it and what everyone else does,” said Cox. “But I would say he has probably found a home around one turn. The ultimate goal would be getting to the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial.”
Elliott Walden, WinStar’s president, CEO and racing manager, concurred.
“We’ll probably come back for the [Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on August 23 here]. He ran kind of quick back here and been at it all year; gone to Oaklawn, gone to Tampa — and he’s not a super big horse. He’s a special horse. I think he’s got more there and will be really tough running back. It’s just exciting to win a Grade 1 with a really well-bred colt from the family of [WinStar-owned Dubai World Cup winner] Well Armed — a great family that’s been very good to us,” Walden said.
Patch Adams returned $8.80 for a $2 bet. The Kentucky-bred son of Into Mischief and the Distorted Humor mare Well Humored improved his record to 6-3-0-1 and increased his lifetime earnings to $497,585 with the $275,000 share of the purse awarded to the winner.
Live racing resumes Sunday at Saratoga Race Course for Closing Day of the five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. The 13-race card features a rescheduled pair of Grade 1 turf events in the 5 1/2-furlong $500,000 Jaipur [Race 12] – a “Win and You’re In” for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint; and the $1 million Resorts World Casino Manhattan [Race 13], which has been moved from the Mellon turf to the inner turf course and shortened from 1 3/16-miles to nine furlongs. Also featured are the off-the-turf Grade 3, $175,000 Soaring Softly in Race 7 and the $150,000 Jersey Girl in Race 9. First post is 12:10 p.m. Eastern. Admission gates will open to the public at 11 a.m.
