Bay of Plenty Wire to Wire in Alydar Stakes
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Godolphin Racing's Bay of Plenty, beaten 24 lengths by the victorious Honor Code in the Metropolitan Handicap (gr. I), rebounded nicely with a wire-to-wire win in the $100,000 Alydar Stakes Aug. 9 at Saratoga Race Course.
The Aug. 8 Whitney Handicap (gr. I) at Saratoga may have been the tip-off, as Honor Code won that event in his subsequent outing. Bay of Plenty paid $8.80 to win as the second choice behind the returning Palace Malice, who checked in fourth.
The 1 1/8-mile Alydar ended up being a one-horse race. Bay of Plenty, a 4-year-old Kentucky homebred colt by Medaglia d'Oro , out of the A. P. Indy mare Kotuko, grabbed the early lead and never looked back, through fractions of :23.29 for the opening quarter-mile, :46.84 for a half-mile, 1:10.94 for six furlongs, and 1:35.85 for a mile. He finished up in 1:48.92 for the distance on a track rated fast.
Mylute closed well for second, followed by Neck 'n Neck. Bay of Plenty is trained by Kiaran McLaughlin and was ridden by Joel Rosario.
It was the first stakes win for Bay of Plenty, who had won four races, all in maiden and allowance company, before the Alydar. In November of 2014, he finished second in the grade III Discovery Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Bay of Plenty now has five wins and two seconds in nine starts.
On Aug. 8 McLaughlin won the grade I Test Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga with Stonestreet Stables' Cavorting.