There are numerous terms that can be used to describe High Oak.
One of them is “graded stakes winner.” Another is “star-crossed.”
New York racing fans may remember High Oak as the highly promising 2-year-old winner of the 2021 Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) for trainer Bill Mott and the ownership group of Lee Einsidler’s LRE Racing and sports talk radio legend Mike Francesa’s JEH Racing Stable.
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After that 4 1/4-length victory, High Oak finished fourth to Gunite in the Hopeful Stakes (G1).
Minor physical issues then sidelined him for the rest of the year and his intended 3-year-old debut in the Swale Stakes (G3) was scrapped due to a fever, prompting Mott to run the son of Gormley in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2). In that key Kentucky Derby (G1) prep at Gulfstream Park, High Oak was impeded and placed in tight quarters, causing him to fall.
High Oak emerged from the spill with an ankle injury that sidelined him for a year until the colt bred by Catherine Parke returned in a March 4 allowance optional claiming race at Gulfstream that was contested on, ironically enough, Fountain of Youth Day.
Sent off at 3-1 odds, High Oak showed a bit of early speed before tiring and finishing last in a field of 10. His next three starts in New York produced nothing better than a seventh.
Yet High Oak’s luck finally changed July 29 at Saratoga Race Course when he once again showed signs of his top 2-year-old form. Running in a six-furlong allowance optional claimer, he was eighth and last in the early stages and seventh at the eighth pole under jockey Katie Davis, but then staged a strong rally in the final furlong and finished a game second at 19-1 odds, 1 1/4 lengths behind Scocciatore .
“When Johnny (Velazquez) got off him the previous time, he said he was getting better,” Einsidler said. “I have to give a lot of credit to Katie Davis. She got him to relax and he was there when she asked him. We’d love to get an opportunity to run him again at Saratoga. He obviously loves it here.”
Einsidler said the plan is to run High Oak in a six-furlong Aug. 26 allowance optional claimer on the Travers Day card.
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