Juddmonte Farm’s Kentucky-bred Elite Power, the reigning Champion Male Sprinter, ran his win streak to eight with a dramatic score in the $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) at Saratoga on Saturday, July 29.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Elite Power is now perfect in three starts this season with prior wins in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G3) at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Saudi Arabia and in the True North Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park in June.
With an eye-catching rally in the stretch in the Vanderbilt, Elite Power collared Gunite in the final strides to prevail by a head at the wire under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Mott shared that he was concerned that Gunite, who led by 1 ½ lengths in the stretch, had built an insurmountable lead over the sloppy (sealed) track.
“He opened up and it’s hard to catch a horse on this kind of racetrack when they open up on you turning for home,” Mott said. “Speed always carries over this kind of a racetrack. I think our horse deserves a lot of credit trying to make a big run off the pace on this kind of surface.”
Ortiz said of Elite Power, “He knows where the wire is. He does everything right.”
A winner in five-of-six starts last year, Elite Power won the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) to secure his championship honors. Bred in Kentucky by Alpha Delta Stable, Elite Power, who is by Curlin, is produced from the multiple graded stakes-winning Vindication mare Broadway’s Alibi, a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Golden Lad.
Mott indicated that Elite Power will point to the seven-furlong Forego Stakes (G1) on Aug. 26 at Saratoga.