Sacristy Much the Best in Old Hat
Sacristy may have given the bettors who sent her to the starting gate as
their 6-5 favorite a few uneasy moments during the early running of
Sunday’s $100,000 Old Hat Stakes (G3), but the 3-year-old filly looked
much the best in the Gulfstream Park stretch while edging clear by 1 ¾
lengths.
“She was just spot on today,” jockey Kent Desormeaux said. “Her eyes
were bugging out of the bridle. You could tell she wanted to be a
racehorse when she was warming up.”
Trained by Wayne Catalano, Sacristy collected her second straight win
on conventional dirt after launching her career with a pair of runner-up
finishes on synthetic tracks to Bet to Win, who finished 2 ¼ lengths
behind the winner in third Sunday. Say a Novena finished second under
Elvis Trujillo, a half-length ahead of Bet to Win.
“This is what it’s all about: moving these young horses forwardly. She
was taking a step forward and we thought she might make it. She was
training like she would,” Catalano said.
Sacristy, who earned $60,000 for the Peachtree Stable, ran six-furlongs
in 1:10.91 while closing from sixth to first under jockey Kent
Desormeaux.
“She was only three lengths out of it (early). I told Kent, ‘Let her
break sharp and see what happens.’ Let the race unfold for him. He knows
what to do, that’s why I got him up there. We all know what kind of
rider he is.”
Catalano said Sacristy will likely run next in the $200,000 Forward Gal (G2) at Gulfstream on Jan. 29.