New York Scrappy continued his hot streak by recording his fourth win of the year. This time it was at Saratoga and on turf as the previous three wins this year came on dirt.
Silvestre Gonzalez rode him to victory, and it was a special win for him. Our winningest jockey, Gonzalez has recorded over 800 wins and rode our horses to victory 33 times now. Racking up wins at Aqueduct, Belmont, Parx and Penn National, it was Silvestre’s first ever win at the hallowed grounds of Saratoga.
“I’m very excited. I’m very thankful to come out here to the Spa, beautiful weekend and to get a victory is even a bonus” said Gonzalez in his post-race interview.
It was also back-to-back wins aboard New York Scrappy who has won his last 3 races in a row. “I don’t know what it is about him; he likes my riding I guess,” said Gonzalez. “First time on the turf for me with him and he was as game as could be.”
“I just tried to save all the ground in the turn and just hope that it was going to open up a little bit, I had plenty of horse where I felt comfortable that we could make a move happen.”
The 5 ½ furlong allowance race on the turf had New York Scrappy and Silvestre Gonzalez sit back in fourth down the backstretch. Going into the stretch, Gonzalez found a lane on the inside and was able to make a move to with the fifth race by a neck in 1:01.64.
“Riding for these guys, Ilkay and Matt, they’ve helped throughout my career, the sky’s the limit for them. I’m just glad to be on the ride with them.”
The win marks our seventh straight year with trip to the Winner’s Circle at Saratoga and we’re extremely happy Silvestre’s first Saratoga win came aboard one of our horses.