The Hopeful (Grade 1)- $350.000 Purse
SAR- For Two Year Olds
Seven Furlongs on the Dirt
September 3, 2018

Another year of racing is over at Saratoga Race Course. Hopefully, it was an enjoyable meet for everyone involved. The Hopeful is the race that finishes the meet every year, and its winners often come back the next season having accomplished much bigger things. Beach Dandy and Joshua Stables will look to follow the lead of the last two winners, Centerpiece and Ginger Haggis, and have astounding success. Plenty of successful winners prior to them as well. This was an entertaining race, but a big effort for Beach Dandy, getting Joshua Stables his first career win in this stake. That holds true for jockey J J Castellano as well. J R Leparoux has had a stranglehold on riding the race winner here, but he was not at the track this year. Congratulations to the winners! The time of the victory was 1:22.17, a midpack time when looking at other past winning times. Let’s take a look at how it happened2

(1/4 Mile- :22.77)- Four of them start quickly out of the gate, but Instagooglefacetweet, ends up clearing the rest of the field by nearly a full lengths after the first two furlongs for trainer TwinTowersRacing. Cryptomining, our pick in the preview, ran second for Axeman and was able to get good position while on the rail. To his outside would be John Henry’s La Grange. Guest Book was also ambitious of the gate for Mb Stables, but looked to be restrained just a bit as they moved down the backstretch. At a quarter, he ran fourth with his stablemate Harley Street running to his inside. Another length and a half back is where he find our eventual winner, Beach Dandy, for Joshua Stables. He battles for sixth, four lengths back, with Zalim, who hopes to get another big two year old win for D J C Racing Stables. Young Sniper (Luz International) was next on the rail, and Call It a Comeback (Estero Farms) was four wide, and looking to pull up to the outside of Beach Dandy. Trailing were Cucamonga (Tiratzo) and Trigger Finger (Aer Stables).

(½ Mile- :45.77)- Instagooglefacetweet continues to have ten followers on the race track as they go down the backstretch and move into the turn, but the lead is shrinking. Both Cryptomining and La Grange were making positive headway, and they seemed to be good shape for the turn. Further back, both Guest Book and Harley Street were holding steady, but the big mover here was Call It A Comeback. He had used his fourth lane well in the backstretch, pulling up alongside, and initially passing Beach Dandy. This seemed to get Beach Dandy moving as well, and they moved together to prepare the pass of the two Mb Stables horses directly in front of them. Young Sniper and Zalim were not advancing, but would be joined by Cucamonga. Trigger Finger was the trailer.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.7F To Go)- Instagooglefacetweet ran better in the turn then I was expecting, and continued to lead the way as we moved into the stretch. Perhaps he had plenty more left in the tank. Cryptomining was still running well, holding his own on the rail, but still ran second, and unable to make the pass for the lead. As others in the field began to close in, we can’t say it was looking good for him. La Grange looked to be tiring out. Meanwhile, the progress of Call It A Comeback stalled slightly, and he would end up surrendering track position to Beach Dandy. The two Mb Stables runners looked for room into the stretch as well, with Harley Street coming alive in an effort to take the rail. Guest Book, however, was running into the back of La Grange. Four lengths back, Young Sniper, Zalim, and Cucamonga were three wide, and Trigger Finger was a length behind them.

(Finish- 1:22.17)- In the stretch, it looked like several were going to have a chance to win. Cryptomining, initially, looked like he might do it after all, but left too much room on the rail for Harley Street to come on through. Then on the outside, here comes Call It A Comeback, and in the middle of the track, its Beach Dandy! And where the heck did Trigger Finger come from? In the end, Beach Dandy had just a little bit more, and gets the thrilling victory over Harley Street and Call It A Comeback. Trigger Finger certainly fired his way through in the stretch, and just ran out of time, but gets a fourth place check for his effort. Cryptomining gets the headbob on Guest Book for fifth, with Cucamonga running well late to be 7th. Instagooglefacetweet retreated to 8th, followed by Zalim and La Grange. Oh yeah, and eventually Young Sniper got to the wire, too.

About The Winner: Beach Dandy, trained by Joshua Stables and ridden to victory by J J Castellano, is a two year old gelding by Beachcomber, and is out of the late Living Dandy. He was bred in California as a first quarter two year old by Langley Farms, and acquired by Joshua Stables unraced in the June 2018 auction. His career earnings are now $262.240.

Track: Fast
Time: :22³  :45³  1:09³  1:22

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 4 – 2 Paid 262.80
$1 Trifecta: 4 – 2 – 6 Paid 836.40

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES