N.Y. Derby: Hit the Post makes 1st stakes start for Giddings

Graded stakes-winning trainer Melanie Giddings will team up with apprentice rider Chris Elliott when Hit the Post makes his stakes debut in Monday’s $150,000 New York Derby, a 1 1/16-mile route for New York-bred sophomores at Finger Lakes.

The Old Tavern Farm homebred, by Kantharos out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Memento d’Oro, romped to an open-lengths win in a seven-furlong, state-bred maiden sprint versus elders June 6 at Saratoga.

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The gate-to-wire score over a sloppy and sealed main track saw Hit the Post graduate at fourth asking with Elliott in the irons for the first time. It also was Hit the Post’s first outing as a gelding.

Giddings said she is hopeful Hit the Post will improve again when stretching out in distance from the runaway maiden score, which registered a career-best 87 Beyer Speed Figure from Daily Racing Form.

“He actually came out of the race really well and he is doing really, really good. We are excited about running him on Monday,” Giddings said.

Hit the Post made a trio of state-bred starts as a 2-year-old, beginning with a fourth on debut in September at Saratoga traveling seven furlongs. He followed with a pair of starts at Belmont at the Big A, landing a distant third traveling six furlongs in September before a seventh in a one-turn mile in October.

“I didn’t want to run him too early until the races got a little longer because he is a big, leggy horse and we always thought distance would be best for him,” Giddings said.

Giddings said she wouldn’t be upset with the potential of another wet track outing at the Farmington, N.Y. oval.

“I wouldn’t cry about it,” Giddings said, with a laugh. “There’s a lot of factors whether that had anything to do with how good he ran or not. I think he is just finally in a good place as a 3-year-old and being castrated and all of the things kind of came together.”

Giddings is confident in Elliott.

“I really like Chris. I watched him from when he first started, and he is a rider that constantly improves, and I think he has shown that he can ride here with the best of them,” Giddings said.

Hit the Post is 6-1 on the morning line for the New York Derby. Train the Trainer, a last-out winner in the black-type Mike Lee Stakes, is the 8-5 favorite.