By 2YO EdgeMan
It’s hard to believe that July 2023 is already in the books, but I wanted to provide you with a quick snapshot of our beloved 2YO MSW races at Saratoga so far this meet. The month of July saw a total of 21 of ‘our races’ last month at The Spa. Slightly more than half of them (12) were unrestricted events, while six were for NY State Bred babies only and another three were restricted to juveniles who have been auctioned at some point (or ‘RNAed’) for $50,000 or less. 13 of the 2YO MSW races were contested on the main dirt track and eight of the affairs saw the babies travel over one of the two turf courses.
You are likely not going to fall out of your chair when I tell you that Todd Pletcher and Irad Ortiz, Jr. have the early lead in the trainer and jockey standings, respectively. TAP has saddled three winners (all unrestricted events) of our races in 16 tries, while Irad has booted home four victors, going 4 for 18. Irad has ridden two of Todd’s three winners, Jose rode the other. The only other trainer with more than one trip to the Winner’s Circle is Christophe Clement – he’s won two times from the ten that he’s tighten the girth on. Back on the jockey side, both Luis Saez and Jose have won three times and the only other pilot with more than one victory is Tyler Gaffalione (two scores).
I also always have my eye on the sires that are successful and through July, there have been three that have been the proud pops to two juveniles each that hit the wire first. Not surprisingly, two of the three stallions are from Spendthrift Farms – Goldencents (Spendthrift), Justify and the terrific first-year sire, Omaha Beach (Spendthrift).
We look forward to a terrific remainder of the meet at Saratoga. Please keep following us here on PastTheWire.com and thank you for your support. All the best to you and good luck with these wonderful two-year-olds!
