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Off the Tracks right on track in Schuylerville
Jennie Rees
@CJ_Jennie
Off the Tracks, who paid $19.60 to win in the field of eight 2-year-old fillies, prompted the early pace before jockey Luis Saez swung her to the outside turning for home, from where she drew off under a hand ride to capture the $150,000, Grade III Schuylerville by 3 ¾ lengths over the late-running Banree on opening day at Saratoga.
Off the Tracks was an impressive debut winner June 15 at Gulfstream Park for trainer Roderick Rodriguez, who is stabled at the track formerly known as Calder but now is Gulfstream Park West. It was Rodriguez' first graded victory.
"When I came in 2005 I was an assistant trainer," he told Saratoga's publicity department. "I had only heard about Saratoga and I saw the kind of horses that run here. It takes a great horse to run here. The last day of the meet I looked around and said, 'The next time I come here it's going to be with my own horse,' and thank God it worked out. To do it in this fashion, it's incredible."
Decked Out was a distant third, followed by Moment Is Right, Areolite, One Minute, Little Miss Miss and 6-5 favorite Positively Royal.
"I think she's going to be better going longer, so I was expecting just to finish strong but the race presented itself different," Rodriguez said. "She was right there second, and that surprised me, that she was right there so soon. I was just hoping for a good finish."
Off the Tracks won her debut by 4 1/4 lengths, relocating to Saratoga from Gulfstream Park West in mid-July.
"It wasn't a tough field [in her maiden win], but the way she did it, I mean it was incredible," Rodriguez said. "That gave me the confidence to bring her up here. She has a big heart."
Off the Tracks, who ran six furlongs in 1:11.27, is a foal of Harve de Grace. That's not to be confused with the mare Havre de Grace, the 2011 Horse of the Year. However, Off the Tracks, a daughter of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, is a half-sister to Concord Point, winner of the 2010 West Virginia and Iowa derbys. Harve de Grace's maternal grandmother is a Penny is a Penny, a 13-time winner whose stakes victories included Monmouth Park's 1990 Grade II Molly Pitcher and Churchill Downs' (then) Grade III Fleur de Lis for Louisville owner David Levitch and the late Louisville trainer Steve Morguelan.