Prado Makes Maryland Million History with Classic Victory
Prado Makes Maryland Million History with Classic Victory
Saratoga Bob Gives Hall of Fame Jockey 18thMaryland Million Win
LAUREL, MD.– Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado guided Saratoga Bob to victory in Saturday’s $150,000 Maryland Million Classic at Laurel Park, setting a record for most wins by a jockey in the annual event featuring Maryland-sired and Maryland-bred horses.
Prado notched his 18thMaryland Million success, going one-up on retired fellow Hall of Famer Ramon Dominguez.
The Classic, a 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds and up, headlined Saturday’s 33rdedition of Jim McKay Maryland Million Day, which also featured the inaugural Clubhouse Festival, a daylong concert showcasing several prominent musicians, including Grammy nominated Steve Aoki.
Prado, who ranks eighth all-time with 7,017 winners, dominated the Maryland circuit for many years before moving on to achieving fame in New York and returning to his Hall of Fame roots two years ago.
“I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to have success right here earlier in my career and to come back and win,” Prado said. “This is the cream on the top of the cake.”
Saratoga Bob, the 7-2 third betting choice, broke alertly to press the pace set by Pal Cal, who showed the way around the first turn and on the backstretch past fractions of 24.46 seconds and 49.09 for the first half-mile. Prado maintained his position board the 4-year-old son of Friesan Fire into the far turn before taking over the lead turning for home. Saratoga Bob put away a challenge by Clubman at the top of the stretch and was all-out to hold off the late challenge by Dothat Dance by a half-length. Clubman, the 7-2 second choicer, finished third, another three-quarters of a length back. Admiral Blue, the 5-2 favorite, showed brief speed before fading to ninth in the field of 10.
Saratoga Bob ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:51.28 to score his first stakes victory for owners Wayne Harrison, Robert Manfuso and owner/trainer Katharine Voss.
“He broke good. The first couple of jumps I thought he might be a little too keen, but he settled nice on the backside. Every time someone came to me, he picked it up,” Prado said. “At the top of the stretch he responded. When the horse came with a big run on the outside, I thought I was going to finish second, but he gave me more. I give all the credit to him.”
Saratoga Bob has won three times and has never been worse than third in six starts with Prado aboard. He was bred in Maryland by Voss in partnership with Manfuso.
“He ran so game. They kept coming at him and he just kept trying,” Voss said. “I told Edgar, ‘You figure this one out.’ He can ride them a lot better than I can. Nobody’s done it better than him. It was exciting.”
