Pin Oak Stud's Stars and Strides (American Pharoah) capped a memorable Saratoga meeting for his owner, trainer Bill Mott and jockey Junior Alvarado, slicing through at the fence in upper stretch and powering home to take Monday's Listed Saranac Stakes.
A narrow, but highly impressive debut winner (92 Beyer Speed Figure) in a seven-furlong maiden on the Belmont Stakes undercard June 7, the $475,000 Keeneland September graduate was a distant seventh of 11 trying winners for the first time going the same distance on July 19. That prompted a move to two turns and the grass, and the decision paid immediate dividends when the bay scooted home to score over a mile at a juicy 9-1 back on Aug. 7.
Favored at 17-10 to negotiate this hike into stakes company, Stars and Strides–a bit washy down his neck loading up–found his way into the box seat soon after the start as the New York-bred Leon Blue (Mo Town) cut out the running from Sir Barton Stakes hero Crudo (Justify), also making his first start on the grass, through a half-mile in an easy :49.47.
Under a snug hold entering the turn, Stars and Strides was right on the heels of the leaders on the swing for home, went for a run underneath Leon Blue when that one vacated the inside and kicked on smartly to defeat the rail-rallying Magic Pathway (Quality Road). Asbury Park (GB) (Frankel {GB}) was produced wide into the stretch by Flavien Prat and rallied belatedly to just miss second.
“He [Junior Alvarado] took him back in behind a couple of the speed horses and then the speed horses really slowed it down,” Mott explained. “It looked like they didn't really present the kind of early pace we thought they were going to. He was stuck in behind them and it opened, and he rode him right on through there and got the job done.”
Over the last seven weeks at the Spa, Jim and Dana Bernhard's Pin Oak Stud also won the GI Saratoga Derby with World Beater (Oscar Performance) and the Birdstone Stakes with GIII Belmont Gold Cup winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Parchment Party (Constitution). Alvarado and Mott, of course, teamed with Sovereignty (Into Mischief) to win the GII Jim Dandy Stakes and GI DraftKings Travers Stakes.
“It's been an amazing meet,” Alvarado said. “If Bill's horses win, I'm going to be on most of them. Bill had a great meet, so I had a great meet–it's been amazing.”
Holiday Blues was purchased by Four Pillars Holdings for $100,000 at Keeneland November in 2021 and the colt that would become Stars and Strides more or less paid that bill when hammering for $160,000 at KEENOV the following fall. Shortly after the colt was hammered down to Pin Oak, half-brother Panther Island won the Janus Stakes at Gulfstream Park to enhance the page. Stars and Strides is the 60th worldwide stakes winner for his sire.
The mare, a half-sister to MSW & GI Hopeful Stakes third Wine Police (Speightstown), is also responsible for the 2-year-old filly Jet Mist (Frosted), a $220,000 KEESEP graduate, and a yearling colt by Maxfield that fetched $100,000 at KEENOV in 2024. The dam of a filly foal by Arcangelo, Holiday Blues most recently visited McKinzie. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
SARANAC S., $135,000, Saratoga, 9-1, (R), 3yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:42.17, fm.
1–STARS AND STRIDES, 120, c, 3, by American Pharoah
1st Dam: Holiday Blues, by Ghostzapper
2nd Dam: Deputy Cures Blues, by War Deputy
3rd Dam: May Time, by Cure the Blues
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. ($160,000 Wlg '22 KEENOV; $475,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP). O-Pin Oak Stud LLC; B-Four Pillars Holdings LLC (KY); T-William I Mott; J-Junior Alvarado. $74,250. Lifetime Record: 4-3-0-0, $190,300. *1/2 to Panther Island (Speightstown), SW, $254,120.
2–Magic Pathway, 120, g, 3, Quality Road–Ghostly Win, by Ghostzapper. 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Live Oak Plantation; B-Live Oak Stud (FL); T-Michael J Trombetta. $27,000.
3–Asbury Park (GB), 120, c, 3, Frankel (GB)–Limonar (Ire), by Street Cry (Ire). (250,000gns Ylg '23 TATOCT). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Peter M Brant & St Elias Stable; B-St Elias Stables LLC (GB); T-Chad C. Brown. $16,200.
Margins: 1 1/4, HD, HF. Odds: 1.70, 17.60, 2.67.
Also Ran: Crudo, Leon Blue, Cairo Caper, Versus, Tank. Scratched: Covert Law, Mi Bago, Siesta Key, Thirteen Colonies.
STARS AND STRIDES gets his first stakes win in the Saranac Stakes with @JuniorandKellyA aboard for trainer Bill Mott. pic.twitter.com/CUJDibx9wc
— NYRA (🎪) (@TheNYRA) September 1, 2025
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