Surveillance Posts Emotional Win in Off-the-Turf Troy
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Surveillance wins the Troy Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
Anytime a trainer with 20 years of experience wins his second graded stakes, it figures to be an emotional moment.
But for Wayne Potts, that second graded stakes win triggered far more than the typical cascade of feelings.
It was four years and two days ago, Aug. 8, 2020, that Potts notched his initial graded stakes win when American Sailor captured the Troy Stakes (G3T) at Saratoga Race Course via disqualification.
But all of that joy faded eight months later when an April 2021 fire at his Belmont Park barn claimed the lives of two of his horses. One of them was American Sailor.
Though Potts and other trainers including Luis Miranda and Robert Falcone Jr. rushed into the barn attempting to free as many of Potts' 48 horses as possible, American Sailor and the unraced Beastie D could not be saved.
So when Potts notched his second graded stakes win, ironically enough in the Aug. 10 edition of the $291,000 Troy, all of the joy and devastation Potts experienced with American Sailor came to the fore when Photos Finish's Surveillance prevailed in the sprint stakes by 3 1/4 lengths.
"I never could enjoy that win because I lost American Sailor in the fire. But it popped up in my mind yesterday," Potts said.
This edition of the Troy was different than the grassy 2020 version as it was contested on the fast main track at the Spa due to heavy rains that wiped out turf racing Saturday and was automatically downgraded to a grade 3 stakes pending a review by the North American Graded Stakes Committee.
Entering the Constitution gelding as a main-track-only runner in the Troy was the first of two sharp moves by Potts that led to Saturday's victory in a race that was originally scheduled for Aug. 3 but was postponed a week due to wet turf and then was moved to the main track Saturday after week-long rain.
"The first time the Troy was scheduled I thought it was a little bit too quick to wheel him back," Potts said. "I waited, they canceled the Troy and we were fortunate to get in as a main track only. With all the storms coming through everything worked out for us."
Aside from the surface switch, which reduced the field from 13 to five and kept North American record holder Cogburn from running, Potts also struck gold by dropping a $62,500 claim slip for Surveillance in his last start and winning a three-way shake for the 7-year-old gelding bred by Kendall E. Hansen, M.D., Racing out of the Mizzen Mast mare Majorelle.
"He has a huge shoulder on him. He's a beautiful animal. Big size. Probably 1,350 pounds. He's earned $800,000. He's all racehorse," Potts said. "I was thinking of running him at Kentucky Downs. I did not want to run back for $80,000 or $100,000 because I knew I would have lost him at the claim box and I don't have many stakes horses or higher claimers in my barn."
Now a winner of 10 of 36 starts with earnings of $943,457, Surveillance was claimed out of a winning effort July 26 in an allowance optional claimer, posting the victory for Flying P Stable and trainer Mike Maker.
Surveillance ($5), the 3-2 favorite, broke in the air but jockey Tyler Gaffalione quickly reined him and was third after an opening quarter-mile in :22.12 set by Outlaw Kid in the 5 1/2-furlong Troy.
R. A. Hill Stable and SGV Thoroughbreds' Outlaw Kid dueled with Disarmed , the other main-track-only entrant, into the stretch when Surveillance moved swiftly in the three path to take charge at the eighth pole and covered the distance in 1:04.41.
Outlaw Kid, a Violence gelding trained by George Weaver, was second by a neck over Gary Barber's Step Forward , a Speightstown gelding trained by Mark Casse.
The Troy and the Galway Stakes were both originally scheduled for turf and moved to the main track Saturday. Two grade 1 turf stakes on the card, the Fourstardave Handicap (G1T) and Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T), were shifted to Aug. 11.