Dayoutoftheoffice Scores Upset in Schuylerville Stakes
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Dayoutoftheoffice takes the Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
Timothy Hamm and Siena Farm's Dayoutoftheoffice sprang an upset in the $100,000 Schuylerville Stakes (G3) for 2-year-old fillies going six furlongs July 16 at Saratoga Race Course, bringing her record to 2-for-2 after the heavily favored Beautiful Memories was pulled up in the backstretch.
Beautiful Memories, who won her debut by 10 lengths, stumbled out of the gate. The Hard Spun filly trained by Mark Casse sustained a cut but walked off the track.
"She stumbled out of the gate and was traveling OK, but she was getting a lot of dirt in her face," jockey Jose Ortiz said. "Going into the turn, she switched leads and I noticed she wasn't traveling well, so I decided to take care of her. It was a tough decision to make. She had a small cut on her right front. I don't think it's serious."
Dayoutoftheoffice, who is trained by Hamm, sat off the pace in third as Casse's other entrant, Make Mischief, posted fractions of :22.29 and :45.57 through a half-mile. Junior Alvarado looked behind him for competition as the field was coming off the turn but no one was coming.
He asked Dayoutoftheoffice for more at the top of the stretch, and the Into Mischief filly easily passed the leader and opened up to score by six lengths at the wire. The final time on the fast track was 1:10.43.
"(In her debut) in the first sixteenth of a mile, it took her a little bit to get going, so my goal today was to get a good position," Alvarado said. "I knew she would handle the distance fine. She broke good and put me in a good spot and I was for sure a smiling person the whole way around. I knew what I had under me and she responded very well when I asked her turning for home."
Make Mischief held on for second by a length over Hopeful Princess, who put 10 lengths between herself and the rest of the field. Off at odds of 19-2, the winner returned $41.60, $14.60, and $7.80.
"We knew there would be a lot of speed, but I thought if we could be third or fourth early, we'd have a big chance," Hamm said. "We got the trip we were hoping to get. In the paddock, (Alvarado) said to me, 'Into the turn if you could pick a spot for me to be, where would that be?' I said third right outside the speed. When I saw him lying there, I said, 'Wow, we're still alive.'"
The Schuylerville featured a field of seven juvenile fillies who were coming off a win in either their first or second start. Dayoutoftheoffice won her debut May 14 at Gulfstream Park, defeating a field of six others going 4 1/2 furlongs. In that test, she led at every point of call to post a 4 3/4-length win.
"Our thought process was not to run her 4 1/2 (furlongs) because we knew she wanted more ground," Hamm said. "She got up that day and we had confidence in her, gave her a little break, and pointed her to this race."
Bred in Kentucky by Siena Farms, Dayoutoftheoffice is the first stakes winner out of the Indian Charlie mare Gottahaveadream, a half sister to 2010 Forego Stakes (G1) winner Here Comes Ben. Her third dam is grade 1 winner Race the Wild Wind, who produced group 1 winner King Charlemagne and group 1-placed Meshaheer.