Uno Emayo / NYRA Photo

Uno Emayo pulls off upset in NYSS Cab Calloway

by Najja Thompson

Under a perfectly measured ride from jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., Uno Emayo overtook Rooftop View in the stretch to win the 14^th running of the $100,000 New York Stallion Series Cab Calloway Division on Monday at Saratoga Race Course.

Breaking from post position 6, the Rudy Rodiguez-trained son of D'Funnybone sat in second-position behind pace setter Cuckoo's Saloon who set fractions of 24.68 seconds for the opening quarter-mile with the half going in 47.88.

As the field turned for home, 4-5 post time favorite Cloud Control, who sat in third most of the way, was given his cue by jockey Angel Arroyo and found his way along the rail to take the lead at the top of the stretch with a hard charging Rooftop View close behind. 

Uno Emayo went three-wide and and dug in gamely as the three hooked up in the late stretch. Battling to the wire, Uno Emayo emerged a nose ahead of Rooftop Control and Cloud Control in the last jump to complete the One-mile distance in 1:35.37 over a firm inner turf course.

"At the final turn the horse inside of me [Cloud Control]  was starting to go out, which made me go out a little bit. The jockey [Manny Franco] tried to control his horse so I wanted to make my move in the middle of the turn," said Ortiz, Jr. "The horse kept coming and was there for the win today."

Returning $14.80 for a $2 win wager to earn his first career stakes win, the victory boosted Uno Emayo's career earnings to146,382 for Carl Lizza Racing Stables.

"All the credit to the bosses," said Rodriguez. "They told me to bring him here and give him a chance and that's what we did."

"In the mornings, he looked like he wanted to go longer," added Rodriguez. "He looked like he could stretch out but we tried a couple of times and it didn't work. Today, he proved he can do it. I give the horse credit."

Following Go Go Lucky in fourth was Cuckoo's Saloon to complete the order of finish. Dearie, Free n Clear, and Sudden Surprise were scratched from the race.