American Sailor elevated to first after DQ of Imprimis in Troy

Trouble is often found in turf sprints and Saturday's $200,000 Troy Stakes (G3) was no exception. Slow starts and checking in the lane doomed many runners, as Imprimis crossed the line first only to be disqualified, leaving the runner-up, American Sailor as the winner.

The tactics of the race changed when the old pro Pure Sensation broke very slowly, leaving American Sailor surprisingly alone on the front.

Imprimis sat a beautiful pocket trip behind American Sailor and Shekky Shebaz. Jose Ortiz turned Imprimis loose turning for home and he responded, but failed to keep a straight course.

Imprimis came over a bit on Shekky Shebaz, which caused a chain reaction as he interfered with Pulsate who was looking for room.

Jose Ortiz felt he was best, but did admit to interference. "When I hit him the first time, that's when he switched leads and I think that's when I bothered the other horse. It looked like [Imprimis] was the best horse but I probably did cost the other horse [Shekky Shebaz] a position."

Meanwhile American Sailor, to his credit, kept plugging along without interference under Tyler Gaffalione on the inside to finish second. The stewards' ruled that Imprimis cost Shekky Shebaz second and placed him third behind that rival, which means American Sailor was the third-best or even possibly fourth-best horse when considering Pulsate's trouble.

It was quite an interesting way for trainer Wayne Potts to get his first graded stakes win.

"I'm speechless. This is my first graded win," Potts said. "My clients have stood behind me through the years with claimers and this is where we're at. I was worried about the late runners coming to get me late but out horse was out pretty quick."

American Sailor paid $16.80 to win. Shekky Shebaz was placed second and Imprimis wound up 3rd. The roughly run race was completed in 1:01.27.

The 8-year-old gelding by City Zip was claimed off Potts for $7,500 in June 2018, but returned to the barn in September of 2018 and has since climbed the ranks. Potts said patience has been the key with this speedster.

"We gave him the winter off this year and I had him for about three years and he really needed a break," Potts said. "He really deserved it. He doesn't owe us anything, so we decided to give him some time off instead of shipping him to San Houston for the Turf Sprint."

Owned by Raj Jagnanan, American Sailor improves his record to 45: 15-9-3 with earnings of $568,264.