Sharp Aza Tack took his show across the country Saturday and couldn’t have been any more impressive while becoming the second stakes winner for his fast-starting freshman sire Sharp Azteca in Monmouth’s Tyro Stakes. Having belied 12-1 odds when scoring first out on the Santa Anita sod June 10, he was no secret this time around as the even-money chalk.
Sold by Legacy Bloodstock at the 2021 Keenelend September sale for breeders Joe and Emilly Cowles, the speedy colt is the 106th blacktype winner to graduate from Legacy Bloodstock consignment. His half-sister by Jimmy Creed will sell with Legacy as Hip #1979 at this year´s September sale.
Briefly challenged to his inside by second choice Power Attack (War Dancer), Sharp Aza Tack shook free of that foe on the bend and enjoyed several lengths of daylight as he spun for home. His foes simply couldn’t run with him from there, and he widened at will to prevail by double digits and stop the clock in :55.71. Power Attack held second.
“I decided to ship the horse to Monmouth Park after talking to owner Ron Arakelian,” winning trainer Dennis O’Neill said. “We circled the $500,000 Juvenile Sprint at Kentucky Downs [Sept. 8] for him and we thought `what is a good spot between the win at Santa Anita and the Kentucky Downs race?’ The race at Monmouth Park was perfect. I have horses at Keeneland now and we thought the Tyro S. would be a good middle ground.”
He continued, “When he made his debut he had trained well but I didn’t know if he was good enough to stay with some of the top baby sprinters on the dirt in California. We put him in that grass sprint and I would be lying if I didn’t say I was shocked at how well he raced. He came out of it great, so why would we mess around with surfaces? The only thing we said to [jockey] Jairo Rendon was to take advantage of this horse’s speed. He rode him with a lot of confidence. There were some good runners in there. I couldn’t have been more impressed or more proud of the way he ran. It’s hard to be more impressive than he was.”
-edited from www.thoroughbreddailynews.com
