The field turns for home in the 2016 Woody Stephens on the Belmont Stakes undercard.
Under jockey Joel Rosario for the first time the bay colt rallied from dead last early, weaved his way through tiring rivals on the far turn, successfully navigated a sharp left-turn in mid-stretch and easily drew away to victory by 1 1/4 lengths over a field of 11 other sophomore rivals. The colt, who earned his first career stakes victory in the Woody Stephens, stopped the clock in 1:21.38 for the seven-furlong distance.
“I could see they were drifting out, so I kind of took a position to get inside, because at that time I didn’t want to stop the momentum,” Rosario said. “He was coming and running really hard at the end. I just didn’t want to stop him.”
At odds of more than 7-1, Tom’s Ready paid $17.20, $9.20 and $6.30. Runner-up Fish Trappe Road capped off the $421 exacta and was good for $20.60 and $11.80 at odds of 25-1, while fellow longshot Star Hill paid $7.40 when he crossed the finish line another half-length back at odds of 15-1. The trifecta paid $3,350.
Tom’s Ready rallies to win the 2016 Woody Stephens.
Favored Sharp Azteca, Dig Deep, Tale of S’avall, Seymourdini, Counterforce, Awesome Gent, Mrazek, Justin Squared and Imperial Hint completed the order of finish after I Will Score was Scratched.
“I thought he’d be laying fourth or fifth and make that punch, but obviously he likes this one-turn stuff, laying back and moving strong like this,” Stewart said. “I think we’ll keep him at one turn. He won’t run a lot more. He’s run hard all year. I’m going to freshen him up and point him to maybe the King’s Bishop at Saratoga and then the Breeders’ Cup (Sprint).”
Pennsylvania-bred Tom’s Ready was purchased by his current owner for $145,000 as a Fasig-Tipton select yearling in 2014.
