Sharp Starr Remains Perfect at a Mile in Go for Wand
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Janet Garaguso
Starp Starr outfinishes Portal Creek by a neck in the Go for Wand Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack
Sharp Starr continued her love affair with racing one mile Dec. 5 at Aqueduct Racetrack when she wore down a stubborn Portal Creek in the $100,000 Go for Wand Handicap (G3). The victory improved her to 3-for-3 at the distance.
The Go for Wand, which attracted a field of six (none of whom had won a graded stakes), proved a two-horse race. Former claimer and Parx Racing raider Portal Creek shot to the lead, setting a relatively easy pace of 23.26, :46.72, and 1:11.52 in the slop while being chased by Sharp Starr to her outside.
Exiting the turn, it looked as though Portal Creek might dash away after building a 1 1/2-length advantage, but once Sharp Starr was urged forward by jockey Jose Ortiz, she gradually proved best. She prevailed by a neck, with a gap of 12 lengths to the third-place finisher, favored Nonna Madeline.
The Horacio DePaz-trained Sharp Starr raced a mile under 117 pounds in 1:36.75, paying $4.50 as a close second choice.
A half-length behind Nonna Madeline, the highweight at 123 pounds, was fourth-place Stand for the Flag. Graceful Princess and Overheated completed the order of finish.
Ortiz won the Go for Wand for the second time, adding to his 2013 score aboard the Todd Pletcher-trained Royal Lahaina. The jockey said the key to the race was an alert break, which allowed his mount to secure a forward position.
"Speed is good. On this sloppy track, it can be hard to come from way off," he said.
The victory was the second straight at Aqueduct for Sharp Starr, a 3-year-old daughter of Munnings owned by Barry Schwartz and bred by her owner's Stonewall Farm. On Nov. 7, she won a first-level allowance for New York-breds by 15 3/4 lengths.
She lost two previous stakes starts, both at 1 1/8 miles. She was third after a rough start in the Fleet Indian Stakes this summer at Saratoga Race Course and seventh in the George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) at Pimlico Race Course Oct. 3. She is 3-2-2 from nine races with earnings of $174,015.
"She definitely likes the track, but I think she likes the one-turn mile a little bit better," DePaz said. "It set up for her. I was happy she could repeat that last effort.
"Even in her two-turn races, she wants to put herself there, but she has those bad starts, and afterwards she can't get up there. She's breaking so much better and getting herself into the race. The way she breaks and gets herself close, she's able to finish up nicely."
Sharp Starr is among four winners from five foals to race from the A.P. Indy mare Mindy Gold. The dam also produced black-type runner Papa Shot, a son of Distorted Humor who placed in four stakes in New York from 2017-18.
Mindy Gold has a 2-year-old colt named V Pattern (by Street Sense ), an unnamed yearling filly by Twirling Candy , and a weanling colt by Cairo Prince .
Noting Sharp Starr's affinity for a mile, DePaz said he will look to place her in more races at the distance.