NYRA Photo

Fandom shows mettle to fend off late charge in Mahony

by Brian Bohl

Stonestreet Stables’ Fandom surged to the front, maintained the edge out of the turn and repelled Run Carson’s late bid from the outside to capture Sunday’s Listed $150,000 Mahony, a 5 1/2-furlong Mellon turf sprint for sophomores, at Saratoga Race Course.

Fandom, making just his fifth career start, was coming off a third-place effort in the Grade 3 Quick Call presented by Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation on July 14 at the same distance at the Spa.

Trainer Brad Cox added blinkers for the Mahony and under a confident ride from jockey Dylan Davis, who picked up the mount for the first time, Fandom was sent to the front from the inside post and led the nine-horse field through fast fractions of 21.53 seconds for the quarter-mile, the half-mile in 44.49 and three-quarters in 56.51 on turf listed as good.

Out of the turn, Fandom kept his position from the inside and powered to the wire with Run Carson, who was all out in the final jumps, hitting the wire in 1:02.87 to win by a neck. Jockey Manny Franco, aboard third-place Apollo Ten, lodged an objection against Fandom after needing racing room late between the top two, but the stewards disallowed the claim of foul.

Fandom added to 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint victories at Keeneland for his former conditioner Wesley Ward in the Listed Palisades on April 7 along with a winning debut last April.

Blake Cox, son and assistant to Brad Cox, said he was pleased to see Fandom utilizing his early speed in his second start for their stable.

“Very happy with that win,” Cox said. “He added blinkers today. We didn't think he would be on the lead, but wanted to get him more involved and it worked out well.”

Run Carson, trained by Kelsey Danner, made a strong account in his stakes debut in his fifth career start, finishing one length ahead of Apollo Ten for runner-up status. Howard Wolowitz rallied furiously up the rail to finish fourth, with Works for Me, Yellow Card, favorite Mansa Musa, Reef Runner and American Rascal completing the order of finish. No Nay Mets scratched, as did main-track only entrant Baraye, who finished second in Saturday's Galway here.

“I had a good trip. He really liked the turf today,” said Run Carson rider Ricardo Santana, Jr. “He ran his race. He ran hard and I’m really proud of the horse.”

Off at 4-1, Fandom returned $10 on a $2 win bet. The British-bred Showcasing colt improved his career earnings to $248,857 after banking $82,500 in victory.

“Blinkers on. It was a nice, clean break,” Davis said. “He broke poorly last time, he got bumped. I wanted a nice, clean break from the one hole. He broke very well, and surprised me a bit to get there [the lead], but being that I wanted to break well, it was good for me. He tugged me along into the turn very nicely, I was just working with him at that point. Both challengers there down the stretch, I was asking from him, but he was giving for me. We were like a team out there. He helped me out and was nice and strong all the way to the wire.”

Added Davis about the objection: “I’m not sure, but I know I did maintain a straight course the whole way. I did switch sticks, but he stayed straight all the way. Maybe the horse to my outside got a little intimidated by the other horse on the far outside, so maybe he got a little bit spooked when he started falling back. I didn’t think there was any problem there.”

Franco said there was traffic in the stretch.

“It got a little bit tight [approaching the wire]. I think it was a little bit of both horses – the horse inside [Fandom] and the horse outside [Run Carson], but I was going to finish where I was going to finish,” he said. “I thought he was going to give me a little bit more, but maybe he’s a little bit better on a firm track.”

Live racing resumes Wednesday at Saratoga with a nine-race card highlighted by the Grade 1, $150,000 Jonatan Sheppard Handicap – a 2 3/8-mile steeplechase contest, in the opening race and the $125,000 Suzie O’Cain for New York-bred sophomore fillies going 1 1/16 miles in the inner turf in Race 5. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.

Saratoga Live will present live coverage and analysis of the Saratoga Race Course summer meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule/.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Saratoga Race Course, and the best way to bet every race of the summer meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.