High One Sails Away with The Sanford

By Nynl Stables on July 14, 2019

The Sanford (Grade 3)- $150.000 Purse
SAR- For Two Year Olds
Six Furlongs on the Dirt
July 13, 2019

The Sanford was moved up a couple weeks this year to correspond with the first weekend racing at beautiful Saratoga Race Course. I would have loved to have been there for real, and the weather was great, both there and within HRP. There’s no denying that the Sanford is a fun race, since everyone hopes to have that great two year old at this point, but as we saw in the preview it does not really mean much in the big scheme of things other then being an early Grade 3 to win and get on the right foot. The race that closes the meet, the Hopeful (a race day I am hopeful to be in attendance for, for real), is the better indication of the future. On July 13 last year, Beach Dandy was still a maiden, something he’d break at Saratoga in early August, and then went on to win the Hopeful. What we had here was a fantastic race, and a pair of two year olds battling it out for a fantastic finish at the wire. In a photo, Gdp Inc’s High One prevailed over Sail Away, and picks up the trainer’s first win in the stake. Jockey R Bejarano made his trip east count as well, and wins the stake for the first time, too. Congratulations to them! The time of the victory was 1:09.50, in line with other recent winning times. Let’s take a look!

(1/4 Mile- :22.72)- We have two that break very well out of the gate and go to the front quickly, putting a gap of two lengths between them and the rest of the field after a quarter mile. One of them is Allinthegate’s Crimson Sun, who started towards the outside. Joining him would be our eventual winner, High One, for Gdp Inc. These two were heads apart at this point, and each looking good. Scorates, out of Mb Stables, sat just off the lead in the third position, and had He Steals Two right to his inside for Estero Farms. Another length takes us to the heart of the pack, where Defiant (D J C Racing Stables) has a half length advantage on Online (Our Athletes). Nearby to their outside, and running side by side would be the filly, One Piece At A Time (Team 7 Illusions), and Sail Away (Mb Stables), who’d end up running second. Running five and a half lengths out is Czechoslovakia (Blushing Meadowns), who our Excel random number generator predicted would win the race and in the end shows to do never use that again. Trailing are Mini Me (Aer Stables), and Dream Engine (Joshua Stables).

(½ Mile- :45.43, Top Of Stretch, 1.7F To Go)- High One looks excellent while rounding turn, and pulls away from Crimson Sun. He will now enjoy a lead of about a length and a half and seemed to be in good shape to contend with any of the new challengers in the stretch. Crimson Sun was still running well, so that is a credit to the way High One was running at this point. Meanwhile, along the outside, Sail Away was looking sharp and making up ground, moving into third and having gained a length on High One during this portion, which in itself is impressive. Mb’s other horse, Socrates was hanging in there as well, and still in the fourth position. He Steals Two began to drop back, and One Piece At A Time was unable to keep up with Sail Away, but still ran in the middle of the field. Online and Defiant were holding their ground, but not looking like they were about to move forward. Czechoslovakia began dropping back, and Dream Engine had seven lengths to make up in the stretch. Mini Me was the now the trailer.

(Finish- 1:09.50)- In the stretch, High One continues to look good, and seems as though he has enough to hold on. Sail Away is coming on but did not seem to making enough progress midway through. As they got closer to the wire though, Sail Away continued to push forward, and excelled. At the wire, Sail Away nearly pulled it off, but after examining the photo, it would be High One winning the race narrowly. Dream Engine was one to watch in the stretch, moving to the outside and passing much of the field very easily. There was no better at this point, but he was only able to make up six of the seven lengths he needed too, and settles for third. Crimson Sun hangs up for fourth in a close finish with Socrates and One Piece At A Time. Online was next, followed by Mini Me, who began moving very well late in the stretch himself. Next came Defiant, then the horse that finishes in the exact same position as the only horse from 2018’s Sanford that has won a graded stake at 3 (and also ran in the TC), He Steals Two. Czechoslovakia finishes at the back, jinxed by the random number generator.

About the winner- High One, trained by Gdp Inc, and ridden to victory by R Bejarano, is a two year old gelding by High Pride and is out of Rev One. He was bred in the great breeding state of Pennsylvania by Gdp Inc as a yearling, and they have always been together. Congratulations to the connections! He is 2-for-2 in his young career, and has earned $117.000 thus far.

Horse Name

Owner Name

Jockey

Odds

Fin

Time

SRF

High One

Gdp Inc

Bejarano R

9.50

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