Sayaad returns a winner in Forbidden Apple; Joy upsets Perfect Sting

Sayaad returns a winner in Forbidden Apple; Joy upsets

Perfect Sting

Kharafa crossed the wire 6 1/2 lengths ahead of third-placer Bio Pro, and

Hamp and General Logan rounded out the strung-out field. Joining Za Approval on

the scratch list were Plainview, who was entered in Wednesday's 8TH race, and

the main-track-only Dawly, who is in Sunday's Salvator Mile at Monmouth.

Sayaad's resume now reads 11-5-2-0, $315,037. Fifth in his stakes debut in

the Hill Prince over this course and distance last summer, the Street Sense colt

later posted a front-running, 4 1/2-length victory in the Dance of Life at

Saratoga. He made it two straight with a gutsy score in a Belmont turf allowance

last October, and displayed a similarly admirable attitude in his comeback here.

Bred by Vision Sales 2009, Sayaad was a $450,000 Keeneland November weanling

purchase. The four-year-old bay is out of the winning Time for a Change mare

Time for a Crown, making him a half-brother to Grade 1-placed Coronet of a Baron

and stakes diva Banga Ridge, who is herself the dam of current Grade 3-placed

sophomore Unspurned. This is the family of Grade 1 queen A Z Warrior; Grade 3

victor E Z Warrior; multiple stakes winner and Grade 3-placed J Z Warrior; and

the latest addition, Jojo Warrior, who just earned her Grade 2 laurel in the

Summertime Oaks.

Mah Jong Maddnes accosted Orion Moon, headed her at the six-furlong mark in

1:15 3/5, and put her away in earnest down the lane. In deep stretch, however,

Joy began to gain momentum and rolled past to win going away by 3 1/2 lengths in

a final time of 1:40.

"I had a pretty good trip," Irad Ortiz Jr. said. "There was a loose horse on

the track; when you have a loose horse in front of you, you don't know what he's

going to do. She was very comfortable, we saved some ground, and then we had to

move a little earlier because of the loose horse. She switched leads in the

stretch and took off."

Waterway Run closed for third, just a neck behind Mah Jong Maddnes, and Orion

Moon tired to last. The stewards held an inquiry into Lady Ten's mishap at the

start but no action was required.

A Maryland homebred campaigned by Dark Hollow Farm, Joy returned a $24 win

mutuel. The chestnut daughter of Pure Prize was offered as a yearling at the

2011 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic October, but RNA'd for $35,000. She has now earned

$180,810 from her 15-4-1-1, reflecting a prior stakes victory in last summer's

Christiana at Delaware and a third in Saratoga's Auntie Mame.

Joy is the first registered foal from the winning Safe Journey, a Flatter

mare who descends from the family of Hall of Famer Safely Kept.

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