Out On Bail, a son of New York-bred Horse of the Year and classic winner Tiz the Law, wins Friday’s Skidmore Stakes on the grass at Saratoga. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo.
By Alec DiConza
The $150,000 Skidmore Stakes proved a battle from the start between eventual winner Out On Bail and runner-up Jet Sweep Joe, but the duel wasn’t quite over after they crossed the finish line. Out On Bail needed nearly every inch of the 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for 2-year-olds to get by Jet Sweep Joe, winning by a head at the wire, and then needed the approval of the stewards to officially make him the winner after an inquiry and jockey’s objection put the hard-earned victory in jeopardy.
Mike Maker, who trains Out On Bail for owners Case Chambers, Paradise Farms and David Staudacher, stayed calm through the post-race process. He believed the result would stand after the inquiry.
“I just kind of rolled my eyes,” Maker said about the inquiry. “You can watch the head-on and see (Jet Sweep Joe) just keep carrying and carrying us. It was kind of puzzling, but it’s not the first time I’ve been puzzled.”
Out On Bail sat second while chasing Jet Sweep Joe in the early stages through fractions of :23.53 and :47.03 over the Mellon Turf Course labeled good. The New York-bred colt by two-time New York-bred Horse of the Year and multiple Grade 1 winner Tiz the Law drew even with Jet Sweep Joe at the top of the stretch before the latter drifted out.
In the final sixteenth, Out On Bail came back in on Jet Sweep Joe, putting the two in close quarters as they raced across the finish line heads apart. Out On Bail did prevail under Jose Ortiz and was left up by the stewards.
“The horse next to me kept drifting out, drifting out almost every step of the way,” Ortiz said. “Finally, in the last sixteenth, I put a head in front. And then obviously I tried to keep my ground and I pushed him a little bit in, but almost the whole stretch he was laying on top of me the whole way. If I had run second, I was going to claim foul, too. I guess he took a shot, but I knew his horse was drifting on me almost the entire stretch, so I knew I had a point in my favor there. If I came in a little bit at the end, so what? It wasn’t ever a hard bump. He didn’t give me a hard bump, either, but he drifted out, so I drifted in. It was 50-50. Nothing happened – just two good horses out there battling each other. He came out a bit, I came in a bit, but there never was a hard contact made, so that’s good. That helped a lot for my case. I’m very happy with the win and very happy for the connections.”
Out On Bail finished second in his debut and third in his second start, both state-bred maiden special weight races on dirt. He then made first start on grass in another state-bred maiden race at Saratoga, winning by a half-length. Maker made the decision to try the turf after being disappointed with Out On Bail’s second start, but always thought that grass could be in the future of his colt.
“He didn’t run to our expectations second start on a dry track, so always something we felt we needed to try,” he said.
Maker said that Out On Bail could run next in the Grade 3 Futurity at Aqueduct, a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.
Bred by Matthew Nestor, Out On Bail is the first winner out of the Street Cry mare Judge Lee. Out On Bail originally sold for $40,000 out of the Summerfield consignment at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. He sold for $110,000 to Case Chambers at this year’s OBS March sale.
A two-time winner in seven starts, Judge Lee is the dam of a yearling full brother to Out On Bail also bred by Nestor.
