Graded stakes winner Just Beat the Odds, one of two Gregg Sacco runners, targets Saturday’s Grade 2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga. (NYRA Photo)
Mary Eddy
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The graded stakes-winning pair of Just Beat the Odds and Crazy Mason have conditioner Gregg Sacco well-suited in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt, a six-furlong sprint for older horses, at Saratoga Race Course.
Donna Wright and Omar Ghrghar’s Just Beat the Odds [post 4, Manny Franco], a 6-year-old son of Munnings, arrives at the Vanderbilt from a third in the six-furlong Alapocas Run on June 13 at Delaware Park, his first effort since finishing a three-quarter-length second in the Group 2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in February at King Abdulaziz Racecourse. In the Alapocas Run, he pressed the pace and weakened late to land two lengths back of the victorious Quint’s Brew and runner-up Haileysfirstnotion.
“We brought him back [from Saudi Arabia] at his own pace and we thought he’d be a little short last time, but those are two good horses that beat him and they had been running through the winter and were dead-fit,” Sacco said. “We were a little compromised with just three [half-mile works at Delaware] going into the race, but all-in-all, we were very happy with his effort. The main thing is he benefitted from that race and has had nice works since.”
Sacco has been more than pleased with the brief-but-solid campaign Just Beat the Odds has compiled this year. The Riyadh Dirt Sprint was just his second attempt in graded/group company after winning his graded debut in the Grade 3 Elite Power in December at Aqueduct Racetrack in wire-to-wire fashion. In Saudi Arabia, he pressed the pace under Irad Ortiz, Jr. and battled on bravely in the late stages to just miss behind the Hall of Famer Bob Baffert-trained Imagination.
“It was a wonderful experience and he ran so hard to the wire – Imagination ran a super race to beat him that day and it was a great effort from our horse,” Sacco said. “He’s been such a model of consistency and is such a cool horse. He’s talented and he doesn’t run a lot, but when he does, he always shows up.”
Just Beat the Odds has hit the board in 14-of-15 lifetime starts and was a neck second in an off-the-turf edition of the Carle Place at Belmont at the Big A in his stakes debut as a sophomore. He continued to run consistently in allowance-level races as a 4-year-old, but stepped his game up as a 5-year-old after he was gelded. He boasts two triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, earning a 100 for the Elite Power and a 103 for a six-length optional-claiming score last March at the Big A.
“He always showed ability, but I think when he was gelded, it turned things around and he stepped it up another level,” Sacco said. “He was very tough and ran very well as a colt, but it was a little tough for him to switch his leads and I think it hindered him a bit, so we’re very happy with where we’re at with him now.”
Just Beat the Odds has worked back three times since the Alapocas Run, including a half-mile in 50.40 seconds on July 12 at Delaware.
“His energy level is there and we look forward to a big effort from him,” Sacco said. “He’s run well at every track and brings his track with him. Good horses do. It’s exciting and this is one of the signature races of the meet with a lot of history. The Vanderbilt is a prestigious race and we are looking forward to it.”
Grade 2-winner Crazy Mason [post 2, John Velazquez, blinkers ON], co-owned by Wright with Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, will add blinkers as he searches for his first win since the Grade 2 Carter presented by NYRA Bets last April at Aqueduct Racetrack. The 5-year-old Coal Front horse was a closing sixth last out in the one-mile Grade 3 Hanshin on June 28 at Churchill Downs, a rare off-the-board finish for the talented gray who has hit the board in six of his eight starts since the Carter.
Crazy Mason wore blinkers when he went wire-to-wire to graduate by 9 1/2 lengths in a 5 1/2 furlong maiden at the Spa in July 2023. Sacco removed them following a distant off-the-board finish in the one-mile Listed Sapling that August.
Initially campaigned to be a distance horse in his sophomore year, Crazy Mason had a brief stint on the Kentucky Derby trail before cutting back in distance in his last start of his 3-year-old season. He has been a one-turn specialist with an extreme late foot since, and finished third in the Grade 3 True North and Grade 1 Forego here last year.
“I’m hoping the blinkers help keep him that much closer,” Sacco said. “With any horse, you can’t drop back 15 lengths. Good horses run through the wire. In average races, you can give some [lengths] up, but you can’t give up what he does in these races. He comes charging, but he’s too compromised early on.
“I kind of don’t know where it came from because he did go wire-to-wire when he broke his maiden,” he continued. “We don’t want to see him up near the pace because you don’t want to take away his running style, we just want to see him engaged early on so he’s within striking distance when he starts his run. It’s a little frustrating because he runs so well in defeat.”
Steep opposition to the Sacco contenders will be provided by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ Built [post 8, Irad Ortiz, Jr.], who enters from a half-length defeat to Harrodsburg in the Grade 3 Bango on June 27 at Churchill Downs that garnered a 103 Beyer for trainer Wayne Catalano. There, he stalked in third through the early going under Irad Ortiz, Jr. and made a surge at the pacesetting Harrodsburg in the lane, but was turned away and settled for the minor awards.
“He’s doing great. It’s hard to run a 103 Beyer and get beat, but the best horse doesn’t always win,” Catalano said. “The other horse did run big and I’m happy for the connections.”
The 4-year-old son of Hard Spun graduated at second asking sprinting six furlongs in October 2024 at Keeneland and successfully stretched out to 1 1/16 miles to capture the Listed Gun Runner that December at Fair Grounds Race Course. A pair of on-the-board efforts in Kentucky Derby preps had Built’s connections ‘Derby dreaming,’ but they opted to cut back to the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs instead, where he finished a distant last-of-9.
The colt resurfaced in a December optional claiming sprint at Fair Grounds, where he won by 1 1/2 lengths to start this successful sprint chapter of his career, which includes a similar victory at the New Orleans oval in March that garnered a field-best 106 Beyer.
“He’s been a very nice horse for us and he’s been a lot of fun,” Catalano said. “He’s gotten bigger and stronger and has filled out a bit. I think we had some Derby fever and we got him in the Derby, but he wasn’t up to par and he needed some time. We cut him back for the race [off the layoff] and he ran so well that we just kept him that way.”
Built was a $260,000 purchase at the 2024 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and has banked $479,696 through a 13-5-2-3 record.
Bell Gable Stable’s Nutella Fella [post 5, Jose Ortiz] boasts a Grade 1 victory here after capturing the 2024 Hopeful going seven furlongs as a juvenile when in the care of trainer Gary Contessa. He makes his barn debut here for trainer Joe Sharp off a nearly eight-month respite dating to an off-the-board finish in an optional claiming sprint at Tampa Bay Downs in his first and only outing for Gregg Sacco.
A 5-year-old son of Runhappy, Nutella Fella is in search of his first victory since last year’s Listed Pelican that February at Tampa, where he gutted out the neck score over next-out winner Caramel Chip ahead of a trio of off-the-board finishes in Grade 3 sprints to conclude his tenure with Contessa.
Nutella Fella entered Sharp’s care in May and turned in a handful of works at Keeneland in June before moving to Saratoga, where he has posted two five-furlong bullets over the main track. On July 6, he covered the distance in 1:00.54 in the fastest of 17 works at that distance, followed by a fastest-of-4 move in 1:00.82 on July 14.
Completing the field are the pair of multiple graded stakes-winner Damon’s Mound [post 1, Junior Alvarado] and stakes-winner T Kraft [post 7, Flavien Prat] for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott; stakes-winner Hymn [post 6, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] for conditioner Ron Moquett; and eight-time winner Cat On Time [post 3, Tyler Gaffalione] for trainer David Jacobson.
The Vanderbilt is slated as Race 9 on Saturday’s 11-race program, which features the Grade 1, $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks in Race 10. First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern.
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