GREEN MASK FLIES HOME IN TROY
SARATOGASPRINGS, N.Y. » If two of the three biggest longshots in a race are a Group I winner at Royal Ascot (Undrafted, 17-1) and a Breeders’ Cup winner (Mongolian Saturday, 13-1), chances are the field is a deep one. Such was the case in Sunday’s featured $250,000 Troy Handicap, Saratoga’s richest race for turf sprinters.
Undrafted and Mongolian Saturday have been off form for a while, but race favorites Green Mask (3-2) and Pure Sensation (7- 4) were running back off impressive graded wins that produced the highest Beyers of their career.
Pure Sensation and Bold Thunder dueled early, taking turns on the lead through a :43.91 half-mile, while Green Mask kept pace two lengths back. The three were in the same relative positions turning for home, although Green Mask appeared to have lost a little ground straightening out. It took him a few strides to get up to speed again, but once he did the race was soon over. Accelerating away from his pursuers at an alarming rate, Green Mask flew under the wire a length and three- quarters in front of Holding Gold.
The final time was 1 minute, 00.49 seconds, just three hundredths off the course record. Long On Value was third, followed by Undrafted, Mongo- lian Saturday, Pure Sensation and Bold Thunder.
“On the backside, we were rolling because I could feel the breeze coming right in my face, and I was like, ‘ Whoa, we’re going fast,’” said Hall of Fame rider Javier Castellano. “Before you know it, they’re going to be coming back to you, and you have to be very aware in that situation. I felt I had the best horse in the race, and I put him outside and just let him roll.”
Green Mask, who competes for Almaddah Abdullah Saeed, has been red-hot since finishing fifth as a 27-1 longshot in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. In the exacta in seven straight starts since, including a pair of graded wins, the sixyear- old gelding came within a length and a half of winning all seven races.
“I was really pleased with the effort,” said winning trainer Brad Cox. “It was a great set-up. He broke extremely sharp. Javier did a good job letting the two in front duke it out. Javier just fits him really well. The other guys that have ridden him have done a great job as well, but he’s really responded to Javier.”
The Troy victory pushed Green Mask’s lifetime earnings above the million mark to $1,064,761. His overall record now stands at 8-8-3 from 27 starts.
Cox said Green Mask will be pointed to the Breeders’ Cup, with possible starts at Keeneland or Belmont in the meantime.