Photo: Adam Coglianese
Making a second career start for Repole Stable, Zow managed to overcome an awkward bumping start to score a three-quarter length victory in the $75,000 Gold and Roses Stakes for New York-bred juveniles at Saratoga on Friday, at the same time giving winning trainer Todd Pletcher his record-breaking 37th meet win.
Debra Roma Photography
A bay son of Bluegrass Cat, Zow wired his debut in a restricted maiden special weight at Belmont on July 1, crossing the wire two lengths ahead of next-out winner The Prize Fighter – also a Gold and Roses foe – and completing five furlongs in 57.89 for a strong Beyer Speed Figure of 73.
Odds on favorite in the five-horse Gold and Roses field while stretching out to six furlongs, Zow was drawn at the rail under Johnny Velazquez. During his eight-week freshening, he showed three strong August works at Saratoga in August, drilling a three-furlong bullet on the Oklahoma track, then going four and five furlongs on the main track.
A little restless in the gate, Zow broke outwardly at the start, bumped his neighbor, Dehere of the Cat (Discreet Cat), and needed correction to get on track, but nonetheless managed to move up on the inside and take over the lead well before the first furlong marker. Zow then took the field through solid early fractions of 23.49 and 47.72, with 14-1 longshot Silent Thunder (Northern Afleet) racing two lengths behind two wide, and Dehere of the Cat following another length back at the rail in third.
Through the turn, the order of the first two remained unchanged, while The Prize Fighter moved up into third position in the three path. Never threatened for the top spot, Zow won with three quarters of a length to spare under a right-handed whip. Silent Thunder persisted gamely to hold second, a neck in front of The Prize Fighter. Jaw Crusher and Dehere of the Cat completed the order of finish.
Debra Roma Photography
Pletcher’s 37th win at the 2011 Saratoga meet with Zow broke his own 2010 record. The final time for the six furlongs over the fast track was 1:12.13, which translated into a winning Beyer Speed Figure of 79. [VIDEO]
Bred by Vivien G. Malloy, Edition Farm and Racehorse Management LLC, and foaled at Malloy’s Edition Farm, Zow is out Edition homebred Then She Laughs, a Grade 3-placed open stakes winner and earner of $151,200 for owner Vincent Papandrea. An RNA as a Preferred Saratoga New York Yearling in 2002, the 10-year-old Distorted Humor mare changed hands once via public auction, selling at the 2006 Keeneland November sale to B. T. A. Stable (agent) from the consignment of Papandrea and Barry for $440,000.
Producer of three winners from three starters, Then She Laughs has one other New York-bred foal, three-year-old Hysterical Cat, a full brother to Zow, who placed last year in both juvenile stakes at Finger Lakes and has finished first and second in a pair of turf sprints at the current Saratoga meet. Then She Laughs has an Edition Farm-bred weanling filly by Colonel John named Then Debby Laughs, and was bred this year to More Than Ready.
Zow was purchased by Repole Stable for $80,000 at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton New York Preferred sale on the same day his elder full brother debuted a winner at Saratoga. Click here to read more. A perfect two-for-two, Zow has now earned $81,000.
