Sport Model adds a second victory in the New York Stallion Series Wednesday at Saratoga, taking the Statue of Liberty division for Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Christophe Clement. NYRA Photo.
By IV Hendrix
Christophe Clement stood on the ground floor of the Saratoga Race Course clubhouse, glasses in hand and watched as Sport Model rallied to the finish in Wednesday’s $150,000 Statue of Liberty division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series.
After breaking from post five, Irad Ortiz Jr. settled the 3-year-old Freud filly toward the back of the field as others vied for the rail. Racing seventh of eight up the backstretch and into the second turn, Sport Model didn’t look like a contender. Until Ortiz went to work.
An active Ortiz swung wide and guided the filly to past the field to win by a nose over the Kent Sweezey-trained War Dancer filly Funwhileitlasted and Jose Lezcano.
“I thought (Funwhileitlasted) was the one to beat all the way,” Clement said as he watched the replay. “And to tell you the truth I thought she won the race even when we watched it live, but we got lucky.”
The fourth foal out of the Rockport Harbor mare Just Say Hey, Sport Model was bred in New York by Mr. and Mrs. James P. Curran and Dr. and Mrs. John McDermott. Foaled at Emerald Isle Farm in Hebron, she sold as a weanling to Jonathan Thorne at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga fall mixed sale for $70,000. Reeves Thoroughbred Racing purchased the filly as a yearling out of Thorne’s Thorndale Farm consignment at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred sale for $100,000.
Despite a rocky start – Sport Model finished 11th her first time out and failed to finish her second race after clipping heels and losing her rider – the filly notched her third consecutive win from five starts Wednesday. After breaking her maiden May 7 at Belmont Park, Sport Model earned black type after winning the Cupecoy’s Joy division of the New York Stallion Series June 19 at Belmont, where she edged Funwhileitlasted to win by a half-length.
Despite back-to-back stakes victories, Clement wouldn’t commit to an open-company stakes just yet.
“At the moment I want to enjoy this,” Clement said. “I don’t win stakes races every day – so I’ll enjoy it for a day or two and then come up with a plan.”
