Water’s Edge gets a big pat from jockey Jorge Vargas Jr. after winning Sunday’s Haynesfield at Aqueduct. NYRA Photo.
Empire Equines’ second-generation homebred Water’s Edge, shortening back up to a trip he liked in three prior starts, delivered a big effort Sunday in his stakes debut with a victory in the $100,000 Haynesfield at Aqueduct.
The 4-year-old son of Candy Ride did nearly all the work on the lead in the 1-mile stakes for older New York-breds, fended off multiple challenges around the far turn and to the top of the stretch and won by 4 1/4 lengths over stakes winner Chestertown. Jorge Vargas Jr., aboard for Water’s Edge’s three prior races, rode the colt again for trainer David Donk and Empire Equines’ John and Sandy Crowe.
Vargas summed up the colt out of the stakes-placed Bluegrass Cat mare Sandra in three simple words.
“He’s a fighter,” he said with a wide smile.
Vargas saw that fight three starts before the Haynesfield when Water’s Edge came back from a short two-month freshening to win a 1-mile allowance Nov. 28 at Aqueduct. He finished a close second in allowance company at the same distance Jan. 14 before Donk stretched him out to 9 furlongs and a victory in a state-bred optional Feb. 10.
Donk admitted the jump to the Haynesfield was a step up in class, but Water’s Edge handled it just as he’d handled his previous seven starts. He also improved to four wins with four seconds.
“He’s a really nice horse that’s continued to improve,” Donk said. “A big credit to John and Sandy Crowe, they let us be patient with him. Credit to everyone in the barn, really. They’ve done a great job with this horse. It’s fun to run in stakes races and obviously it’s a lot of fun to run well.”
Lobsta, the 9-5 favorite in the field of six coming in off back-to-back stakes victories, got away the quickest before Javier Castellano took a tight hold. Vargas let Water’s Edge slide through to Lobsta’s inside a few strides into the Haynesfield and they led that foe through the opening furlong as Our Last Buck and Chestertown quickly joined the mix approaching the first quarter-mile in :23.35.
Water’s Edge maintained a half-length lead up the backstretch and to the half-mile mark in :46.01. Lobsta made the first run at the leader on the turn but was easily repelled. Chestertown came next, ranging up in the four path to get within less than a length midway on the turn.
Our Last Buck joined the fray to Chestertown’s outside approaching the end of the bend and just when it looked like Water’s Edge might tire down on the inside he responded and opened up 1 1/2 lengths past the eighth pole. The advantaged widened from there under Vargas strong hand ride.
“That was the plan,” Vargas said of taking the lead early. “We drew the inside and I wanted to have him on his game. I was aggressive and he fought all the way.
“He was waiting on them. He was getting ready for them and when they came up, he took off again. Last time, he ran hard and was pretty keen on me, but he still managed to fight and win at the end. I was pretty confident about the cut back today. I knew I was going to have horse to dig in.”
Chestertown held second, 1 1/2 lengths in front of Our Last Buck, with Lobsta, My Boy Tate and Brew Pup completing the field. Water’s Edge won in 1:36.93.
Water’s Edge picked up $55,000 for the win to boost his bankroll to $240,350.
Water’s Edge joined Donk’s stable late in his 2-year-old season in the fall of 2020. He finished second by a neck in his debut behind eventual Grade 1 winner Americanrevolution in a 6-furlong state-bred maiden last June at Belmont Park. Water’s Edge won his next start in a similar maiden going 6 1/2 furlongs before back-to-back seconds in allowance company – once after getting caught in a speed duel at Saratoga and another after breaking through the gate before the start at Belmont.
Well before Water’s Edge ran those latter to races at Saratoga and Belmont, Donk talked about the colt’s background in his visit with The Saratoga Special’s Fasig-Tipton Stable Tour.
“They had him here in the yearling sale, but they said he was small and not much to look at,” Donk said last July. “He came to me last fall and John called and asked if he was kind of on the small side. He’s not small, he’s a nice horse, really classy.
“We’re looking at them as yearlings and trying to see things, but they change so much. The first time out he got beat a neck in a really good maiden race and then came back and won pretty impressively. When he ran back, everyone on the (NYRA) show was worried because he was coming back in 20 days. He buried his fed tub, he breezed once in :48 and change. Am I supposed to wait another three or four weeks to run? He did go forward, but there’s a reason. He’s a nice kind of horse to have.”
Foaled at Berkshire Stud in Pine Plains, Water’s Edge is the second foal out of Sandra, who won once and finished second in the 2014 Key Cents Stakes at Aqueduct for Empire Equines. Sandra’s first foal, the New York-bred Mineshaft mare, placed five times and earned $61,942 for Empire Equines. Sandra is also the dam of the New York-bred 3-year-old Frosted colt Qarnas, who sold for $65,000 at the 2021 OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training. He’s 1-1-2 in four starts, including a third in the Saudi Derby Qualifier Jan. 28 at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in his most recent start. Sandra is the dam of a 2-year-old New York-bred Bernardini colt and a yearling New York-bred Bernardini filly.
