SARATOGA SPRINGS – He came, he saw, but he didn’t Congaree. Trainer Bob Baffert’s ballyhooed colt, sent off at 2-5 by the crowd of 30,871 yesterday at the Old Spa, was expected to cruise home over five other 3-year-olds in the Grade 1, $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes.
Instead, he got stung by the longshot Scorpion, who came like a shot in deep stretch to chase down front-running Free Of Love, winning by a half-length under Saratoga’s perennial leading rider, Jerry Bailey.
Congaree challenged for the lead around the far turn but faded to finish another 53/4 lengths back, holding third by 11/4 lengths over A P Valentine to the relief of bettors who wagered $389,611 on him to show out of a total pool of $452,300.
“That wasn’t him (yesterday),” said Baffert, who thinks Congaree may have bled in the race. “I didn’t think he could lose.”
Scorpion – trained by Baffert’s arch-rival, Hall-of-Famer D. Wayne Lukas – ran the mile and an eighth in 1:48.4 to pay $25, topping a whopping $369.50 exacta and $947 trifecta.
Lukas beamed as he told reporters after the race, “I guess you guys have to change your stories now. We’ve made a living running in races where we didn’t belong. Some obnoxious S.O.B. in the clubhouse was pounding me on the back, telling me I had no chance.”
On paper, Scorpion didn’t belong. Although the son of Seattle Slew was stakes-placed last summer at Saratoga and won his last start sprinting at Belmont, he finished far back in three straight races before that and had never won a race longer than seven furlongs.
Congaree, who won the Wood Memorial in April, was third in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, then won the Swaps gate-to-wire, was expected to be on an easy lead again under Gary Stevens. But Rich Migliore on Free of Love had other ideas.
After going head-to-head with Congaree through early fractions of :24.1 and :47.4, Free of Love held a narrow lead after six furlongs in 1:10.4, at which point they opened eight lengths on Scorpion running third.
Just when it looked as if Congaree would take command, Free of Love scooted away to a 31/2-length lead with a furlong to run. But Bailey threw Scorpion into high gear, went to a vigorous left-hand whip and caught him in the final yards.
Scorpion and A P Valentine will point for the Travers here Aug. 25, but the “Midsummer Derby” appears out for Free of Love and Congaree.
