A Thread of Blue springs front-running upset in Saratoga Derby

There will be no sweep of the inaugural Turf Trinity. Those hopes were dashed Sunday when A Thread of Blue broke on top and was never headed to score a front-running upset in the $1 million Saratoga Derby. 

A Thread of Blue and jockey Luis Saez shot to the lead and set fractions of :23.60, :48.54 and 1:12.32 for the 1 3/16-miles journey.  A Thread of Blue continued to lead comfortably into the stretch through a mile in 1:35.43, then had no problem repelling the late bids of runner-up Digital Age and Cape of Good Hope for a one-length victory. 

"In a big race, you never know, but we were lucky that it was pretty easy up front," Saez said. "When we came into the stretch, I knew I had plenty of horse. I saw them coming, but he responded pretty well. It was easy for him today."

Henley's Joy, who won the first leg of the Turf Trinity in the Belmont Derby, was a well-beaten fifth.

Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, A Thread of Blue had never gone beyond 1 1/16-miles in nine career starts. With little pace pressure, he had no trouble extending his speed for this longer trip. Final time was 1:52.02.

"The [distance] was a concern, but not really," McLaughlin said. "He's a very talented horse we thought could get the distance."

McLaughlin was non-committal on if the winner will run in the final leg of the Turf Trinity, the $1 million Jockey Club Derby Invitational on Sept. 7.

"Now the next one, we might have to talk about a mile and a half," McLaughlin continued. "But we got this one. We're happy with that. 

Owned by Leonard Green, A Thread of Blue has won 5-of-10 starts with his previous signature win coming in Gulfsteam's Palm Beach (G3) earlier this year.