Tom's Ready Rolls in Woody Stephens
G M B's Tom's Ready proved well-prepared on Saturday at Belmont Park, registering his first stakes win by 1 ¼ lengths in the 32nd running of the Grade 2, $500,000 Woody Stephens for 3-year-old sprinters.
In his first start without blinkers since last fall, Tom's Ready settled at the back of the 12-horse field while the previously undefeated Justin Squared swept through opening fractions of 21.77 seconds for a quarter-mile and 44.40 for a half.
Fish Trappe Road, at 25-1, launched a bid in the turn, overtaking the leader at the top of the stretch under a close pursuit from Star Hill. Trained by Dallas Stewart, Tom's Ready traveled wide into the stretch and dropped into the three path within the final sixteenth under an energetic drive under Joel Rosario.
"I could see they were drifting out so I kind of took a position to get inside, because at that time I didn't want to stop the momentum," said Rosario. "He was coming and running really hard at the end. I just didn't want to stop him."
Sent off at 7-1, the Pennsylvania-bred More Than Ready colt completed seven furlongs in 1:21.38 to return $17.20 for a $2 win wager.
"That was a great ride, wasn't it? The way [Rosario] rode this horse, was like a [Angel] Cordero ride. I just lost it. He came running," said Stewart. "I took a shot taking the blinkers off because he looks around. I took them off for his work and he worked good. It's like Wayne Lukas always taught us: Don't be afraid to take a shot. Make a change sometimes and see what happens."
The victory improves Tom's Ready's record to two wins and four seconds from 11 starts for earnings of $577,220.
Fish Trappe Road held on for second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Star Hill in third.
Sharp Azteca, Dig Deep, Tale of S'avall, Seymourdini, Counterforce, Awesome Gent, Mrazek, Justin Squared and Imperial Hint completed the order of finish. I Will Score was scratched.
Source: NYRA Communications