Ready's Image was easily the best in Thursday's Sanford (Joseph DiOrio/Horsephotos.com)

James Scatuorchio's READY'S IMAGE (More Than Ready) easily drew off during Thursday's $150,000 Sanford S. (G2) at Saratoga to post a four-length victory under jockey John Velazquez. Giving trainer Todd Pletcher his first win of the meet, the dark bay colt finished six furlongs on the fast dirt in 1:09 4/5 as the 4-5 favorite. Ready's Image thus emulated his sire, More Than Ready, who captured the Sanford in 1999.

"We saw him at the Keeneland September Sale and thought he was the spitting image of More Than Ready," Pletcher said. "This colt is still learning. He has a ton of ability, and the fact that he is still improving is encouraging."

Fed Watcher (Songandaprayer) quickly moved to the front when the gates opened, setting splits of :22 and :45 1/5 while Ready's Image was stalking three wide along the backstretch. Coming wide around the turn, the eventual winner took over through five furlongs in :57 1/5 and merely extended his margin from there to return $3.80, $3 and $2.50 to his many backers.

"Around the turn, he was just looking at the other horse (Fed Watcher)," Velazquez said. "The other horse was drifting to him. I got mad at him, kind of slapped him on the shoulder and grabbed him, and as soon as he got ahead of that horse, he got serious. He got into a nice gear and went on."

Tale of Ekati (Tale of the Cat) recovered from a bumpy start to race in midpack and managed to get his nose down on the line to take second. Sent off the 7-1 fourth choice, he gave back $5.70 and $4.50 while ending the $23 exacta. The Roundhouse (Fusaichi Pegasus), also trained by Pletcher, offered a nice rally after being bounced around a bit and coming six wide into the stretch to just miss second. The 12-1 fifth pick paid $5.40 and finished out the 9-1-6 trifecta that was worth $141.50.

Sok Sok (Trippi) also had a bumpy start and was another two lengths farther back in fourth. Next under the line were Fed Watcher, Ascot Hall (Aldebaran), Twenty Eight Hours (Sky Mesa), Shotten Heimer (Aldebaran) and Little Nick (Tiger Ridge).