Monday, August 06 2012

THINGS GO SWIMMINGLY FOR POSEIDON’S WARRIOR IN VANDERBILT

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Moribund on the tote board at 36-1, trainer Robert “Butch” Reid Jr.’s capable sprinter Poseidon’s Warrior held little traction in the minds of handicappers Saturday alongside fearsome Classic winner Shackleford and blazingly fast Emcee in the Grade 1, $400,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga Race Course.

Yet when the field moved inside the eighth pole for the stretch drive, Shackleford was laboring at the back of the field of eight, Emcee was wilting under the withering pressure of Rothko, and Poseidon’s Warrior was flying up on the outside. Drifting out under his terrific momentum, the 4-year-old son of Speightstown reached the front strides before the finish line.