Aug 22, 2021
Chelsea Durand / NYRA Photo
Horologist goes gate-to-wire in $120K Summer Colony
by Keith McCalmont
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There’s A Chance Stable, Medallion Racing, Abbondanza Racing, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher’s Horologist made every pole a winning one in Sunday’s $120,000 Summer Colony, at Saratoga Race Course.
A multiple graded-stakes winner - and the 2020 New Jersey-bred Horse of the Year - Horologist broke sharp under Junior Alvarado and never relinquished in the nine-furlong event for older fillies and mares that have not won a graded race in 2021.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Horologist set splits of 23.66 seconds, 47.34 and 1:11.77 with Gibberish tracking her early foot in second position over a good and sealed main track. The pacesetter took the field into the final turn with stalkers So Darn Hot and Gold Spirit inching closer with Gibberish failing to pester.
Out of the turn, Horologist widened her advantage to seven lengths and stayed on strong to the wire for an authoritative 8 1/2-length score in a final time of 1:51.57. Gold Spirit completed the exacta by 3 3/4-lengths over So Darn Hot with Gibberish and Thankful, who stumbled at the start, completing the order of finish. Dunbar Road was scratched.
Mott said he wasn’t concerned about the off going.
“She hadn’t had any previous form on an off track, but she seemed to me that she would be a horse who would handle it fine. I wasn’t concerned about that,” Mott said.
Horologist entered from a hard-fought second to Royal Flag after setting the pace from the inside post in the Grade 3 Shuvee on July 25 at the Spa. Two starts back, Horologist was boxed in after exiting the inside post in the Lady Jacqueline on June 26 at Thistledown.
“She was inside and stuck down in there the last two races,” Mott said. “We let her bounce out of there [today] and do her thing without getting in her way. I think we’ve kept her from winning on a couple of occasions. A win does everyone some good.”
Alvarado said he rode the even-money favorite with confidence.
“It was simple. I rode her like the best horse and she showed it out there,” Alvarado said. “Once she put herself on the lead, she took me all the way around. She’s very quick and is a good gate filly. If she wanted, she could go faster without using much.”
A three-time graded stakes winner, the New Jersey-bred daughter of Gemologist captured the 2019 Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks and last year added the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher at Monmouth and Grade 2 Beldame at Belmont to her ledger in her award-winning season.
Mott said he will again point Horologist to the nine-furlong Grade 2, $250,000 Beldame, which is slated for October 10 at Belmont.
Horologist banked $66,000 in victory while improving her record to 25-9-3-4. She returned $4.20 for a $2 win ticket.
Live racing resumes Wednesday at Saratoga with a 10-race card featuring the $120,000 John’s Call, a 1 5/8-mile stamina test on the Mellon turf course for 4-year-olds and up who have not won a graded stakes this year. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.
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