SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Patch Adams was hard-ridden by jockey Luis Saez through the final half-mile of Saturday’s seven-furlong Woody Stephens Stakes at Saratoga. He responded to the pressure to register a convincing 2 1/4-length victory over Madaket Road in the Grade 1 fixture that likely catapulted the winner to the top of the wide-open 3-year-old sprint division at the midway point of the season.
Patch Adams spent the early portion of the year on the Kentucky Derby trail after closing out an abbreviated 2-year-old campaign with a sparkling 10 1/2-length maiden win at Churchill Downs, for which he earned an eye-catching 98 Beyer Speed Figure. But after finishing a disappointing fourth in a pair of Grade 3 Derby preps, the Southwest and Tampa Bay Derby, trainer Brad Cox opted to shorten Patch Adams to seven furlongs. The son of Into Mischief responded with a 2 1/4-length allowance win in the penultimate race on this year’s Kentucky Derby card.
Patch Adams, who did not break well in his first two starts of the year, came out of the gate a lot more alertly making his local debut in the Woody Stephens before easing back a couple of lengths behind early leaders Macho Music and Madaket Road. Saez put Patch Adams to steady urging leaving the half-mile pole and kept him under a drive to the wire, joining the leaders approaching the furlong marker before gradually edging well clear at the end.
Madaket Road stumbled at the break but recovered to stalk the pacesetting Pat Day Mile winner Macho Music into the stretch. Madaket Road continued on willingly down the lane but proved no match for the winner while easily best of the rest. The lightly raced Big Truzz, who was second behind Patch Adams when the pair met at Churchill Downs on Derby day, rallied mildly near the inside to finish third while no match for the top pair.
Patch Adams (99 Beyer Speed Figure) is owned by China Horse Club and his breeder, WinStar Farm, and trained by Brad Cox. He completed the distance in 1:21.36 over a track officially rated sealed and muddy by Equibase and paid $8.80 as the tepid favorite.
“It took him two starts to break his maiden, but when he did, he was very impressive,” Cox said. “We thought he’d stretch out based on how he breezed, how he galloped out, and what he worked with at Payson [Park] leading to the Southwest, but he didn’t break that day and didn’t really get a great trip in the Tampa Bay Derby either. Once again, horses will make you scratch your heads sometimes and he had us scratching our heads this winter and into the spring. But he turned it around at Churchill when we cut him back, and he responded again today.”
Cox said he was well aware Saez was sending Patch Adams along early in the race to maintain striking position behind the leaders.
“Luis stayed after him, was asking him to press the leaders, and I was hoping he didn’t give way,” Cox admitted. “And he didn’t. He finished up well. I would say we will probably keep him at one turn. I don’t think there’s anything that would make us think about stretching him back out right now.”
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