If there was a joke being played on Saratoga Race Course in the 105th running of the Schuylerville Stakes (G3), no one got it but a select few.
Trainer Gary Contessa was laughing, and so was owner Lee Pokoik. You might have gotten a chuckle out of jockey Javier Castellano, too.
That’s because their 2-year-old filly Becky’s Joker was a surprising runaway winner in the first of the meet’s 43 graded stakes in front of an announced crowd of 29,102.
At the end of the six furlongs, Becky’s Joker, making her career debut, was a 3 1/4-length winner at odds of 21-1. She was the second-longest price in the field of seven. Dancing Diana , Mila Junes , Status Seeker , and Union Suit were scratched.
“I knew that physically, she was as good as anything in this race,” Contessa said. “She trained like a stakes horse, but you never know what’s going to happen once the gates open.”
Once a mainstay on the New York circuit, this was the first Saratoga win for Contessa since July 24, 2019. In March 2020, he left the New York training game but resurfaced as a private trainer at Delaware Park for Nick and Delora Beaver’s Bell Gable Stable.
Contessa, who also has worked as a bloodstock agent, knew he had to get back to the backstretch. Training horses is what he wants to do. He has a barn of 12 horses and is stabled on the Oklahoma Training Track; he has been there since May.
“This feels right,” Contessa said. “I tell my wife every day, ‘I know you want me to be a real estate agent, I know you want me to be a brain surgeon.’ But I just really want to train horses. My lifeblood is training horses, that is what I want to be. There is nothing better than this.”
Two years ago, Contessa purchased Becky’s Joker, a daughter of Practical Joke , as a weanling for $130,000 at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.
“We always try to sell them as yearlings,” Contessa said. “If they don’t sell as yearlings, we sell them as a 2-year-old.”
Only problem, which turned out not to be so bad at all, was that no one wanted to buy her. Contessa said everyone thought she was too big at 16.3 hands, and he got the filly back.
Now, he and Pokoik have another stakes winner. Pokoik says they have been together for 35 years. They teamed up to win the 2018 Spinaway Stakes (G1), which was Contessa’s last graded win before this one.
Gary Contessa gives race fans high fives after Becky’s Joker won the Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
“I tried selling this one twice,” Pokoik said. “This happened before when I won the Spinaway with Sippican Harbor . No one wanted her, either.”
See, the joke was on everyone back then, too.
After a sluggish start in the Schuylerville, Castellano got Becky’s Joker into the game. She moved into position and sat fourth behind Carmelina , Saratoga Secret , and even-money favorite Wine On Tap . Nearing the quarter pole, Becky’s Joker accelerated, moved between horses, and spurted away to win easily.
“She was very professional,” Castellano said. “She was right behind the horses and she covered up a bit. I liked the move at the quarter pole when she split horses and took off.”
Connections of Becky’s Joker in the winner’s circle
Saratoga Secret and jockey Luis Saez finished second, 3½ lengths in front of Closing Act and Tyler Gaffalione. Wine On Tap and Irad Ortiz Jr. finished fourth.
“Yes, I was surprised at the winner,” said Saratoga Secret’s Hall of Fame trainer, D. Wayne Lukas. “But I think we beat some good horses. We don’t have to hang our heads. We beat some damn good ones.”
Becky’s Joker, who will likely target the $300,000 Spinaway Stakes (G1) on Sept. 3, ran the six furlongs in 1:12.52 and paid $44.40.
Video: Schuylerville S. (G3)
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