The Albany ($250.000 Purse)
SAR- For Three Year Olds Foals in NY
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
August 23, 2019

Topside ended up being quite a longshot for the Albany Stakes at SAR, which had just a small field of five horses. The gelding was making his debut for Night Rider Stables after being picked up in the auction in June from Mb Stables. The new trainer took off the blinkers from Topside, and saw his horse respond with a wire to wire victory. For Night Rider Stables, it is his second win the stake, also winning in 2016 with the late Marshal Berthier. Aboard the winner would be the trainer’s favorite jockey, Ro Maragh, and on the jockey side, it is his virtual win in the race. Unlike what the rest of us can do, he further followed this up by winning it for real! Congratulations! The time of the win was 1:48.10, a similar such time in comparison to recent years. Let’s take a look!

(½ Mile- :48.00)- The race’s eventual winner, Topside, is quick out of the starting gate and opens up length lead as the he moves into the clubhouse turn. He gets some pressure from Singapore, from Mb Stables, and at times in the first half mile it looks like Singapore might put up a bigger challenge, but Topside does well to keep him about a length back. It’s then a gap of about three to Fire N Fury, for D J C Racing Stables, who initially looked like he might challenge more for the lead before being restrained from that. To his inside would be Luz International’s The Shake, and trailing the field was the post time favorite, Downwind Revenge, from Royalty Racing.

(3/4 Mile- 1:11.48)- Down the backstretch, and making our way into the final turn, we continue to see Topside looking good at the front of the field. His lead is increased slightly over his former stablemate, Singapore and the three length gap to both Fire N Fury and The Shake remains. Downwind Revenge is another two back and not making any headway, at least as of yet.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.7F To Go)- Night Rider Stables had to be feeling pretty good about how comfortable Topside was looking at the front of the field. He handled the turn quite well and emerged at the top of the stretch with the same length to a length and a half advantage over Singapore that he has had for most of this race. Singapore was keeping up, but not making any sort of move on the leader. A little further back, we see Fire N Fury push to the money lane hoping to make a move, and The Shake was still in close proximity. Downwind Revenge was still not getting involved.

(Finish- 1:48.10)- In the stretch, Topside would remain in good form, and there was nothing that Singapore could do with him. He had a good view of Topside’s back side the whole race, and Topside gets the win by about two lengths. Singapore narrowly holds on or second, after it looked like Fire N Fury seemed sure to get that position in the late moments, but his own late push fizzled out, and it’s Singapore in the place photo. It was another length to The Shake, while finishing last and disappointing all those who bet on him, was Downwind Revenge.

About The Winner- Topside, trained by Night Rider Stables, and ridden to victory by Ro Maragh, is a three year old gelding by Point Of Entry, and is out of Cherish. He was bred in New York by D J C Racing Stables, and acquired by Night Rider Stables, via Mb Stables, in the June 2019 auction for $25.020. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his third in eight starts, and it is his first stake win. His career earnings are now $241.540.

Track: Fast
Time: :48   1:11²  1:35²  1:48

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 3 – 2 Paid 2,198.10
$1 Trifecta: 3 – 2 – 4 Paid 844.00

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded