Hymn holds off a dead heat in Saratoga's Forego

Hymn brushed the gate at the start, pressed the pace from the outside and turned back a three-horse threat through the final furlong to win the Grade 1, $500,000 Forego by three-quarters of a length Saturday at Saratoga, where T Kraft and Senior Officer finished in a dead heat for second.

Ricardo Santana Jr. rode the seven-furlong victory for trainer Ron Moquett and the ownership of Fleur De Lis Stables, William S. Sparks and Bret Jones. The Forego gave Santana his third win on the card, one night after he took the Charles Town Classic (G2) aboard Willy D's. The race awarded a "Win and You're In" berth to the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

"That was a wonderful effort," Moquett said. "We had a plan, and in this game the plans don't always go as you draw them up, but how cool is it for a plan to actually come together? That's great."

Tip Top Thomas, the second betting choice, took the front soon after the break and showed the way in hand down the backstretch through a 22.61-second quarter-mile, with Hymn prompting him from the outside. The pair reached a half in 45.03 and three-quarters in 1:09.42 before Hymn tipped four wide into upper stretch and took command just inside the three-sixteenths pole.

"I broke really sharp. I broke actually on top of the 1 (No. 1, Tip Top Thomas)," Santana said. "His last work when I worked him, I told (Ron) Moquett, 'this horse is a different horse. I think we've got more power this time.' You know, that was the first time I rode him (in the Grade 2 Vanderbilt). Today, I got more confident in the horse. I was working with him. He broke so sharp, I didn't even grab him. He put me there with the one (Tip Top Thomas). I was going through the ride the one (Tip Top Thomas) was riding and turning for home, he gave me enough kick to win."

Hymn inched away briefly, then dug in as three rivals converged. T Kraft angled four wide and drove up on the outside. Senior Officer, the betting favorite, swung five to six wide at the head of the stretch and offered a mild kick. Neither could get past. Hymn hit the wire in 1:22.48 on the fast main track and paid $11.40, $4.42 and $3.88.

Júnior Alvarado rode T Kraft for trainer Bill Mott and owner LRE Racing. The long shot of the field returned $6.24 and $7.58.

"Follow the number one horse (Tip Top Thomas), he was always going to be the horse to beat, but when we turned for home, never had a completely clear run, and had to be finding my spots through there, but he was there for me. He was all heart, he tried, he tried very hard for me and got there for second.

"We were longshots, with Book'em Danno (in the field before scratching), I had a plan in my head to try to pick up the pieces, but I mean, we were close to getting it all today."

Luis Sáez was aboard Senior Officer for Brad Cox and Qatar Racing, and the favorite paid $2.38 and $2.82. Each dead-heater collected $80,000.

"Good trip. No excuse. The pace was alright. I knew the one (No. 1, Tip Top Thomas) was going to be on the lead. We just tried to be in the right spot and make the right move. He did, but they just ran away from us," Sáez said.

Crazy Mason closed belatedly from a detached last, going seven wide into upper stretch to grab fourth for Manuel Franco and Gregory Sacco. Tip Top Thomas fought to the sixteenth pole and weakened to fifth. Bring the Smoke bobbled at the break, faltered and was eased home last.

A 4-year-old McKinzie gelding out of the Paynter mare Salt Bae, Hymn is a Kentucky-bred homebred for Fleur de Lis Stables. He earned $275,000 from the guaranteed purse. He came into the Forego off a loss in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G2) at Saratoga in July.

"No, it was part of the deal," Moquett said of that defeat. "We wanted to win it, but we thought that going a little bit further would be to our advantage, especially here at this track. It's hard to get everything to go your way, obviously, but it worked today."

Moquett traced the gelding's climb from the allowance ranks in the spring.

"Well, I called it. It's in print places," he said. "I thought he was a beautiful, wonderful horse from Day One. And I hated having to geld him. And when I did, I said, 'Let's just make him a racehorse and go try to win the Breeders' Cup.' So, we're good."

The Forego lost its headliner when defending winner Book'em Danno was declared unsound by a state veterinarian. Banishing also came out, a stakes scratch who ran second Friday in the Charles Town Classic. The withdrawals left six.

"First, I wanted to make sure he is OK," Moquett said of Book'em Danno. "Those are the kind of horses we all love. I've had one (in Whitmore), so I know what it's like. After that, I'm thinking it changes the way of the race because now instead of us going where nobody is paying attention to us, people might actually be riding us a little bit because they knew we were the second speed. I'm just thinking strategy. But, again, a wonderful horse, so I wanted to make sure he is OK."

Santana took the same view from the saddle.

"That was the horse we needed to beat. Everybody knows how good that horse is. And well, I take the victory today," he said.

Sáez added: "The one (No. 1, Tip Top Thomas) was the speed. Everything went to plan, just couldn't get there."

Moquett left the Breeders' Cup question open despite the Dirt Mile berth in hand.

"We're not opposed to the (Dirt) Mile, but we'll look at the race and see how it goes," he said.

Asked whether he prefers the Sprint, Moquett said: "Yeah, I think so. There needs to be a Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' at the (Grade 3) Count Fleet (at Oaklawn Park). That's what the distance is, it's produced as many champions as any place."

A start before the Breeders' Cup remains in the plan.

"Yeah, my plan is right now is to get him back and to look at the (Grade 2) Phoenix (on October 2 at Keeneland)," Moquett said. "I keep telling everybody I can't do him like I did Whitmore. He's not Whitmore. He's his own horse. But we've done this same trek with Whitmore, so we're trying to see what's his trek now."