By Steve Sherack
Jon Clay's Alpha Delta Stables and trainer Chad Brown appear to have another nice one on their hands after New York-bred Sunset Ridge (Algorithms) made it a perfect three-for-three in 'TDN Rising Star' fashion at the Spa Wednesday afternoon.
“We were really excited with her performance,” Clay's advisor Reynolds Bell Jr. said by phone from Saratoga. “She came into the race with a couple of good wins and Chad's been trying to get a race into her for about 10 days to two weeks, but nothing's filled. It's nice to be able to get her over there today and see her move forward. She ran very well.”
A stakes race will likely be on the horizon for the Alpha Delta homebred, but Bell preferred the wait-and-see approach before naming possible targets. Saratoga's New York Showcase Day is a little over two weeks away on Aug. 25.
“I think Chad will see how she comes out of this race and make a plan from there,” Bell said. “I know a couple of things have been discussed. Depending on how she comes back, we may look for some black-type for her next start.”
Clay also raced Sunset Ridge's dam, the Fusaichi Pegasus mare Cades Bay. The half-sister to GSW & MGISP Voodoo (Petionville), a $90,000 KEESEP yearling purchase, won two of eight career starts for trainer Christophe Clement, including a grassy allowance at Aqueduct.
“Mr. Clay was in the market to buy a few yearlings and she fit the profile of what we were looking for and had some pedigree in her family, too,” Bell said. “She had ability–but just had a little soundness issue with her knee and didn't quite get the black-type that we wanted.”
The 11-year-old's previous two foals–R Y Squadron (Stormy Atlantic) and Nevisian Sky (Sky Mesa)–have also both won for Alpha Delta and Brown with the latter just coming up a nose short in a recent optional claimer upstate earlier this month. Cades Bay is also represented by an unraced 2-year-old gelding by Stormy Atlantic and had a filly by First Samurai earlier this year. Cades Bay brought $17,000 from Southern Oak Farm while in foal to First Samurai at the 2016 KEENOV sale.
Other recent standouts for Clay and Brown include: 2016 GII Lake George S. heroine Ancient Secret (Kantharos); 2017 GIII Bay Shore S. winner Long Haul Bay (Quality Road); and three-time graded winner and GI Kentucky Oaks third Lewis Bay (Bernardini).
“We put the mare back through ring because we had this filly as a possible replacement for her,” Bell said. “Mr. Clay wasn't here [at Saratoga] unfortunately, but obviously he's very excited. We'll see what the future brings.”
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