Janet Garaguso Photo

Baby Yoda puts in grown-up effort to capture first graded stakes score in G2 True North presented by F.W. Webb

by Brian Bohl

Baby Yoda didn’t need any extra assistance from the force to earn his first career stakes score, with his speed and closing kick providing sufficient assets to pull away a six-length winner in Saturday’s Grade 2, $350,000 True North presented by F.W. Webb for 4-year-olds and up sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs on Saratoga Race Course’s main track.

The 46th edition of the True North jump-started the stakes portion of the loaded Belmont Stakes Day card that will feature nine graded stakes and six Grade 1s, highlighted by the 156th running of the Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets.

Baby Yoda, owned by Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber and Jerold Zaro, had previously posted two runner-up efforts and finished third against graded stakes competition. The trainee of Hall of Famer Bill Mott finally broke through, exiting from the outermost post 7 sharply under Eric Cancel and tracking in second position to pacesetter Gun It, who led the seven-horse field through an opening quarter-mile in 21.94 seconds and the half in 44.04 over the fast track. In the turn, Baby Yoda split Gun It and New York-bred Rotknee to take command, with three-quarters in 1:08.13.

Baby Yoda didn’t relent in the stretch, staying close to the rail and surging to the wire in a final time of 1:14.62, never being seriously challenged by 16-1 runner-up Ninetyprcentmaddie.

Gun Pilot, the 3-5 favorite, finished one length back of second and edged Rotknee by a head for third. Twenty Four Mamba, Gun It and Accretive completed the order of finish.

The 6-year-old Baby Yoda was elevated back to graded stakes competition for the first time since 2022 and had competed against allowance company for his last six races. But the Prospective gelding notched his ninth overall win in 25 starts and improved his career earnings to $837,220. It marked his second start in the True North following a fourth-place effort in 2022 at Belmont Park.

“I just tried to sit a patient trip; I had a perfect post for that, and I just sat the perfect trip and it worked out well,” Cancel said. "I didn't want him to get in his way. I wanted to keep him as smooth as possible and that is how it went. He was very comfortable where he was and when I asked him, he just responded.

"I had a lot of horse. I was just waiting,” Cancel added. “I didn't want to move early, but at the same time, I knew that if they came up to him, he was going to respond, because he was very comfortable doing it."

Baby Yoda, off at 9-1, paid $20.40 on a $2 win wager. He had previously finished second in the Grade 2 Kelso Handicap in 2022 at Belmont at the Big A and in the Grade 1 Malibu in 2021 at Santa Anita Park. A fondness for Saratoga, where he has won 4-of-6 starts, helped him earn his second consecutive winner’s circle trip overall.

“He likes this racetrack,” Mott said. “He's done his best running up here. I was a little surprised he was as close as he was. I thought there was maybe a little more speed in the race than that, but he broke well and he put himself right there. He didn't like the Gulfstream track [over the winter]. He likes it here. He's just like old men. They get better with time."

Co-owner Adam Wachtel of Wachtel Stable said it is likely Baby Yoda will now target the six-furlong Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap on July 27 at the Spa.

“He’s been a superstar for us since Day One,” said Wachtel. “He won his first few races for us here at Saratoga and he loves it here, as you can just see. Bill felt pretty confident that he would run his race today. Whether that was going to be good enough against a pretty good field was hard to know, but clearly he was ready enough for the task. I’d like to keep running him here at Saratoga. It’s his favorite track. I guess we’ll have to consider the stakes here off this kind of performance.”

LC Racing’s Ninetyprcentmaddie ran another competitive race under Jose Lezcano, finishing second for a fourth consecutive time – all against stakes competition – for trainer Butch Reid, Jr. The 4-year-old had also been a bridesmaid in the Grade 3 Runhappy at the Big A, Page McKenny Handicap at Parx Ragin and City of Laurel at Laurel Park dating to November.

“I think the post position really got us,” Reid said. “We were jammed up down on the inside a long way. Jose knows him now and once he wheeled him out, he came running. It was a good race against some tough horses. He’s getting better with every start, this horse. Jose wants to try him a little longer, but I still think he likes one turn better if I could find a one-turn mile somewhere, something like that.”

Gun Pilot, conditioned by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen and ridden by Cristian Torres, finished in the money for a fifth consecutive time.

“I had a nice trip, honestly,” Torres said. “I was stuck three-wide the whole race. I wish I could have saved a little ground, but the track was being very speedy today, so I tried to be as close as possible. You can see, going to the quarter-pole, the winner just went on. My horse was closing at the end and coming, but the winner ran off the screen. I’m very happy with my horse’s effort. He’s a nice horse and these last few races, he’s been giving me everything.”

Live racing resumes Sunday with the 12-race Closing Day program of the four-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga, featuring the Grade 1, $150,000 Beverly R. Steinman steeplechase in Race 1, and six New York-bred stakes to celebrate the best of racing in the Empire State for New York Showcase Day. The $125,000 Mike Lee is carded as Race 3, with the $200,000 Commentator in Race 6; the $200,000 Critical Eye in Race 8; and three consecutive stakes to close the day with the $125,000 Mount Vernon in Race 10; the $1250,000 Bouwerie in Race 11 and the $125,000 Kingston in the finale. First post is 12:50 p.m. Eastern.

America’s Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.belmontstakes.com/event-info/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, and the best way to bet every race of the four-day meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.