Drain the Clock Scores in Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct

The April 3 stakes action at Aqueduct Racetrack kicked off when Drain the Clock  solidified his 1-5 favoritism in capturing his second graded stakes race, going wire-to-wire in the $194,000 Bay Shore Stakes (G3) for 3-year-olds.

The Maclean's Music   chestnut colt cut back in distance for the seven-furlong sprint after finishing second in the 1 1/16-mile Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) Feb. 27 at Gulfstream Park. Earlier in the winter there, he won the Claiborne Farm Swale Stakes (G3) when sprinting seven furlongs.

An eased-up winner late, he completed the distance in 1:25.97 under Irad Ortiz Jr.

"He broke a little (slow) out of there but he put himself right away into the race and took me to the lead," said Ortiz, who returned to New York fresh off a riding title at Gulfstream. "I let him relax and then I asked him to go and he was running hard to the wire."

Whiskey Double  made up considerable ground to get second, 5 3/4 lengths ahead of Too Boss  in third. Beren  and Garoppolo  rounded out the order of finish.

Owned by Slam Dunk Racing, Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables, and Michael Nentwig, Drain the Clock ($2.70) improved his record to 5-1-0 from seven starts.

The victory was the first graded stakes win in New York for Florida-based trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., who will have a string at Belmont Park this summer for the first time. 

"I thought he kicked away well at the top of the lane and did what he had to do. If you ease up on him, he's going to relax," Joseph said. 

The $400,000 Woody Stephens Stakes (G1) June 5 at Belmont and the $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes (G1) Aug. 28 at Saratoga Race Course are upcoming races under consideration for the talented colt. 

"The Woody Stephens and Allen Jerkens are the types of races you want to be in. If we could win one it would be nice, if we could win both it would be great," Joseph said

Bred in Kentucky by Nick Cosato of Slam Dunk Racing, Drain the Clock is the first stakes winner for the Arch mare Manki , though one of her other two-winning foals, Amazing Audrey , is a $225,408 earner. The mare produced a Mineshaft   colt last year and was bred to Vino Rosso   for 2021.