Baby Yoda a Saratoga Force in True North Romp
Heading into the $350,000 True North Stakes (G2) June 8, Baby Yoda had run five times at Saratoga Race Course, winning three races and finishing third once, earning a third of his lifetime earnings at the upstate track. Most of those earnings had come in allowance races, but with a dominating, six-length win on the Belmont Stakes (G1) undercard, the 6-year-old gelding earned his first graded stakes win on what is not only his favorite track but also his owner’s.
“I’ve been coming to Saratoga my whole life, and I love winning a race here more than anywhere in the world,” said Adam Wachtel, who owns Baby Yoda with Gary Barber, Pantofel Stable, and Jerold Zaro. “And Baby Yoda loves it, too.”
Breaking from the outside post in the field of seven under Eric Cancel, Baby Yoda stalked pacesetting Gun It up the backstretch of the 6 1/2-furlong True North, with Rotknee joining the fray heading in the far turn. But what looked like a possible contested stretch run turned into a romp by the eighth pole. After speedy early fractions of :21.94 and :44.04, the final time of the True North was 1:14.62. Sent off as the fourth betting choice, Baby Yoda paid $20.40 to win. The victory brought his lifetime earnings to $837,220.
Trained by Bill Mott, Baby Yoda had not run in a graded stakes race since October 2022 when he finished second in the Kelso Handicap (G2) at Aqueduct Racetrack. “He always runs so big here at Saratoga,” said Wachtel. “He put himself on the map here (in 2021) when he won two in a row and got that crazy 114 Beyer (Speed Figure). Bill said that he was training well, so we thought it was worth a shot.”
Ninetyprcentmaddie was second, with grade 1 winner and favorite Gun Pilot a length back in third. Rotknee, Twenty Four Mamba, Gun It, and Accretive completed the order of finish.
By Prospective and out of the More Than Ready mare More Than Speed, Baby Yoda was bred in Florida by Kathleen Amaya, Alexandro Centofanti, and Raffaele Centofanti. Wachtel and other partners purchased him privately after his first couple of races at Pimlico Race Course in the summer of 2021. Wachtel grew up in Rockland County and has been coming to Saratoga for 50 years. He’s had a lot of big wins here, but Baby Yoda’s felt particularly special.
“The Belmont festival here is fantastic,” he said. “And this is exciting for me because I’ve got friends here, my kids are here, and our oldest daughter is pregnant with twins.” Baby Yoda is expected to run at Saratoga again this summer. Wachtel said that he’d like to see the gelding run “a couple of times.”
“He likes this racetrack,” said Mott. “He’s done his best running up here. “He’s just like old men. They get better with time.”
[Watch True North Replay](link to the replay)