The Woodward (Grade 1)- $600.000 Purse
SAR- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
September 3, 2016

Throughout the storied career of A One, there had been become one constant thing, especially after his sale from Sanny Village to Eastern Equine.  That is that R J Albarado would be the rider.   After winning the PRK in May of last year, Albarado had always been in the saddle, with one exception, which was likely due to a track conflict only.  Heading into The Woodward, A One had two consecutive fourth place finishes, coming in the Metropolitan Handicap and the Whitney, and there are many trainers out there who would be happy, or at least content, with those performances.  But, they were not A1 performances, and for A One, that just isn’t good enough. It is not known for sure that R J Albarado was taken off the ride for this race, or if simply chose to ride Royal Prodigy (a horse he had no history with prior to this race), but it is likely that Eastern Equine tried to change things up ever so slightly.  J R Velazquez, likely having seen his mounts be beaten by A One on many occasions would get his great opportunity to ride A One for the first time in a race, and that was all that would be needed to get the win here.  We’ll never know how much of a difference this made for sure, but for now both trainer and jockey celebrate their first career Woodward victories.  The time of the win was 1:47.94.  Congratulations to the winners! Let’s look at it more!

1st- 8- A One (6/1)- Our eventual race winner from Eastern Equine had no interest in the early pace.   While A One is not one to go out to the lead as he did in the Whitney, it may have had some people concerned that he found himself so far back so early in this race.  He would see them all in front of them as they rounded the opening turn, and would be six and a half lengths out of it as they moved into the backstretch.  With three rows of three wide setting up in front of him, J R Velazquez did not waste time in his decision to move him to a four wide position. However, even though he had moved out to the outside, he still had not passed a horse and was the same distance back throughout the backstretch and into the final turn.   In the turn, the field became very tightly backed behind Royal Prodigy, so there was benefit for him to take this wide trip would become about five wide around the turn.  He was advancing, but so was everyone not named Dev Null and had three and a half lengths to make up at the top of the stretch.   A One was showing that championship heart that we have seen from him in the past with an emphatic move, but still others were looking good here too.  Only in the final furlong did it really look like he was running that much better then everyone to the point to where he could pull this one off.  In that last furlong he was the legendary A One that we have all seen before, and he was not going to be denied.  And there was especially no way that Velazquez was going to allow Albarado to win this race with Royal Prodigy.  In the end, A One gets it done in a photo, in a time of 1:47.94.  A One is a four year old gelding by Nice Laff (Laffin Snowflake/Policeman/Die Laffin) and out of Steakys Font, who has mostly autogen blood.  He was bred in New York by Wild Aces Stables as a first quarter two year old and was acquired by Eastern Equine in a $1,400.000 private sale from Sanny Village.  This is his third win at SAR, having also won by Dandy and Travers.  He is the first horse to ever accomplish winning all three of those races. Congratulations to the connections!

2nd- 1- Rapid Refund (11/1)- Not that surprisingly, the entry from Grimley was not interested in getting involved early and assumed a position near the rear of the field.   He would have a five length deficit to make up as things stabilized for the backstretch run.  Maintained a comfortable position along the rail, and he was helped a little bit when Royal Prodigy seemed to throw out a block on his stablemate, Enshrined.  This really opened up the door for Rapid Refund to come on through along the rail for the turn, and M Franco seized this opportunity with authority.  He was able to do this up until the point that he needed to move him around Dev Null, and was able to utilize the lane that Royal Prodigy just passed through to accomplish this.  Ran very well in the stretch, and completed the pass for a temporary lead very late until A One found his way by for the win.

3rd- 9- Royal Prodigy (5/1)- R J Albarado had his alternative mount in this race break sharply out of the gate for Mb Stables, and begin to lead the field along with stranger before the ambitious pacesetter Dev Null went by both of them to take the lead.  Moving into the backstretch, Royal Prodigy was on the rail and matching strides with Stranger as the two of them conceded about to lengths to Dev Null.   He would begin to slice into this deficit as they approached the end of the backstretch, and by the time they reached the turn, he was ready to pull up to his outside.     By the time they made it to the top of the stretch, he had taken over the race lead, but it was evident that strong challengers were coming on from elsewhere.  Royal Prodigy did well to fight hard in stretch, likely with a very motivated jockey to end up with bragging rights if he were to win this race. It was a valiant effort, but comes up short.

4th- 10- Stranger (7/1)- From his outside post, the Sanny Village entry broke alertly out of the gate and seemed poised to battle Royal Prodigy for the race lead as they moved into the opening turn.  However, Dev Null really wanted to be out there first, and J Alvarado wisely called off any challenge for that lead.  Into the backstretch, Stranger was in a three battle for second and two lengths from the lead.  Towards the end of the backstretch, both he and Royal Prodigy began making significant progress on Dev Null, and would soon do away with the tiring pace setter.  At the top of the turn he was second, but there several positioning themselves for moves to pass him, so Stranger could not let up.  Had a good battle for fourth for a while with Enshrined before that one gave way.

5th- 4- Cool Guy Twist (8/1)- It was an average start for the Luz International entry, appearing as though he was going to assume a stalking position out of the gate before ultimately settling in the sixth position, and to stalk the stalkers.  He would situation himself right behind Stranger at this point.  This is where he would remain for the entire backstretch run, as traffic concerns really would have prevented taking any other lane here.   Even in the stretch, traffic really did him in and he was destined to follow Stranger through.  Only very late was he able to show himself at his best.

6th- 2- Enshrined (13/1)- The Mb Stables entry got off to a start in the middle of the field, but was able to get to the rail.  He wound soon find himself behind directly behind his stablemate, Royal Prodigy, and about three-four lengths from the leader. Looked to find some room to the outside Royal Prodigy in the backstretch, but that one came down on him, possibly forcing Mb to want to scream out, “Teammates!” Rapid Refund would do well to pounce on the opening this created.  With a furlong to go, his stablemate advanced to the lead, but he looked to be gaining very quickly as ran with Rapid Refund and Stranger.  Late, with rivals on all sides, he can’t quite keep up, and settled for this position.

7th- 3- Palestinian (13/1)- The three year old from Nakamura Stables never really made his presence felt today, starting near the rear of the field, between Rapid Refund and Democratic Politician (a couple names meant to go together?)   Still just seem to meander around near the back even as they moved into the turn.  It’s possible he could have been hindered by traffic in front of him, and he started to show some life about midway into the turn.  However, I second guess the inability to take the rail here if he was really full of run.  He lost ground to Enshrined in the final furlong, rendering his day a disappointment.

8th- 7- Democrat Politican (8/1)- In his debut for Kopites, the gelding went right to the back, and was behind everyone but the unexpected trailer A One in the early moments.  He would have five lengths to make up as they rounded the opening turn and moved into the backstretch.  Looked to find room to run in the turn, but there were no free lanes, and he had to look to follow Cool Guy Twist though and hope for the best.  Eventually looked to move to the inside of that one, but it would be all for not as the Democrat loses this race.

9th- 6- Safecracker (22/1)- The longest shot on the board from Yahudi Stables began the race in a midpack position, situating himself right behind Gma Is My Hero.  Went four wide into the turn, and found himself in a tough spot on the race track for the turn.  Looked like he would get boxed in even if he was able to respond with run.  However, regardless of his position on the track, he was flat in the stretch.

10th- 5- Gma Is My Hero (7/1)- Got off to a good start for Aer Stables, and would be in a stalking position while being the outer most horse of a three wide battle for second into the backstretch.   Gained some ground as they approached the turn to the leader, but the two he had been running with, Royal Prodigy and Stranger were also starting to pull away from him.  He hung in there, though, and at the top of the stretch, he was less then two lengths back, but had been pushed out about six wide.  With a furlong to go, A One was right to his outside, though, so no real excuses for falling all the way back to this position.

11th- 11- Dev Null (7/1)- Started sharply out of the gate for End Run Farm and would actually lead the way in the early going, opening up by two at a half mile, running in :46.85.  Remained in front for the duration of the backstretch trip, but as they moved into the turn, he started losing ground. By the exit of the turn, he fell to sixth, and it would only get worse.

Track: Fast
Time: :46⁴  1:10³  1:35¹  1:47⁴

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 8 – 1 Paid 179.50
$1 Trifecta: 8 – 1 – 9 Paid 722.90

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES