Engage given the edge in wide-open Amsterdam Stakes
By Jeff Scott SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » The $200,000 Amsterdam Stakes (G3) has been won by some outstanding horses over the past decade, among them Kodiak Kowboy, Discreetly Mine, Caleb’s Posse, Holy Boss and Mine Your Biscuits. Although most were not well known at the time, four of these five Amsterdam graduates went on to become Grade 1 winners.
This year’s group is also comprised of relative unknowns. Only three of seven projected starters have won a graded race at any level,
Favoritism in the 6 1/2-furlong sprint goes to Engage, an Into Mischief colt who brought $550k as a 2-year-old in-training last year. The Chad Brown trainee has been in the exacta in all six career starts. His lone graded win came as a 2-year-old in the Grade 2 Futurity. This year he shows a score in the ungraded Gold Fever Stakes and runner-up finishes in the Bay Shore (G3) and Woody Stephens (G2). A versatile sort, Engage has shown he can win on the front end and from off the pace.
After Promises Fulfilled (7-2) upset the Fountain of Youth at 18-1 back in early March, his connections thought they might have a Kentucky Derby horse on their hands. Promises Fulfilled did make the Derby field but finished 15th (following a ninth in the Florida Derby). Cut back to one-turn races, the Shackleford colt faded late to finish third in the Woody Stephens. Promises Fulfilled could be the speed of the speed in an Amsterdam field loaded with that quality.
World of Trouble (5-2), another forwardly placed type, ran third in the Woody Stephens in his first outing outside Florida. It was also his first time the Kantharos colt had finished out of the money in five career starts.
Strike Power (5-1), Barry Lee (10-1), Soutache (12-1) and Old Time Revival (151) complete the field.