Sunny Ridge Prevails in Withers Stakes

Sunny Ridge appears to be well on his way toward earning enough points to be part of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) after upsetting Flexibility in the Withers Stakes (gr. III) for 3-year-olds Saturday Jan. 30 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

There may be one problem with that promising scenario for the gray-roan gelded son of Holy Bull. Although trainer Jason Servis will continue to receive input from Dennis Drazin, Sunny Ridge's breeder and owner, he does not have even a mild case of Derby fever.

"The Derby is the Derby," Servis said after Sunny Ridge wore down front-running Vorticity by three-quarters of a length. "But it is not engraved in stone."

Adventist, attempting stakes company for the first time after an auspicious 11 1/4-length romp in his debut Dec. 19 at Aqueduct, ran a promising third. Flexibility, who had been working sharply since he rolled by 4 1/4 lengths in the Jerome Stakes (gr. III) on Jan. 2, never mounted a serious threat in finishing fourth.

According to the scale established by Churchill Downs, the victory in the $250,000 Withers was worth 10 points and gave Drazin's New Jersey-bred 18 points in all. Sunny Ridge closed his 2-year-old campaign in promising fashion, placing second by 4 1/2 lengths to Greenpointcrusader in the Champagne Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont Park and missing by a neck to Exaggerator in the Delta Downs Jackpot Stakes (gr. III) on Nov. 21.

On Saturday Sunny Ridge broke alertly from farthest outside in the field of six for jockey Manuel Franco. He was never more than a length behind Vorticity in second as Franco maintained steady pressure on the leader, ridden by Jose Ortiz.

Vorticity took the short field through an opening quarter-mile of 24.56 and an opening half-mile in 49.81. He showed no sign of faltering in traveling three-quarters of a mile in 1:14.70 on the fast inner track. Sunny Ridge engaged Vorticity as they neared the top of the stretch and gradually edged to the winning margin.

"Heading into the race, we wanted to be close to the leader. We knew our horse has a lot of speed,"  Franco said. "Thankfully, the race set up for it to unfold that way."

Franco said of his mount's style: "He's a real grinder. He has one pace and likes to run all day. I definitely like him going farther."

Flexibility appeared to be well-positioned by Irad Ortiz, Jr. during a ground-saving trip along the rail as he stalked the pace in fourth for much of the mile-and-a-sixteenth contest. He was kept inside by Adventist and bumped solidly by that rival during the stretch run and came up empty as a heavy favorite.

"Irad said he would have liked to have gotten out sooner because they weren't going very fast in front of him," said Cherie DeVaux, assistant to Flexibility's trainer Chad Brown. "He just couldn't get out in time."

With Flexibility out of the money for the first time in his five-race career, Sunny Ridge paid $9.50 to win, $4.20 to place and $5.30 to show. He covered the distance in 1:46.99. Donegal Moon and King Kranz completed the order of finish in fifth and sixth, respectively. Trainer H. James Bond scratched Cards of Stone.

According to Servis, Sunny Ridge will be pointed toward either the Gotham Stakes (gr. III) on March 5 or the Wood Memorial Stakes (gr. I) on April 9. Both are at Aqueduct; he was leaning toward the latter.

After that?

He mentioned the Haskell Invitational Stakes (gr. I) at Monmouth Park as a prime target since Drazin is a major figure in New Jersey racing and operates Monmouth. As for the famed Derby, Servis said without much fervor, "If I think we can win it, we'll go. But the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) will be eight or nine (starters)."

New Jersey-bred Sunny Ridge, by Holy Bull, is the first foal out of the Songandaprayer   mare Lignum Vitae.