To Honor and Serve picked up the second grade I win of his career this afternoon when he held off a late bid from Mucho Macho Man to win the prestigious $750,000 Woodward Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga by a neck.
Ridden to victory by John Velazquez, To Honor and Serve got off to a good start at the beginning of the nine-furlong race and soon settled into the third position, just a length or two behind Rule and Trickmeister, who battled through fractions of :23 3/5 and :47 2/5. Favored Mucho Macho Man was racing in fourth along the rail after getting off to a less-than-stellar start, while Stay Thirsty, Gourmet Dinner, and Cease were the early trailers.
As the field made their way around the final turn, To Honor and Serve effortlessly moved up alongside the front-runners to take over the lead. In the meantime, Mucho Macho Man was desperately searching for racing room, finding it about a furlong from home and bursting into the clear on the far outside. He loomed as the winner a sixteenth of a mile from the finish, but To Honor and Serve dug in gamely and turned back the challeng to win by a neck in 1:48.56 seconds.
Cease rallied well to finish third, while Trickmeister, Stay Thirsty, Rule, and Gourmet Dinner completed the order of finish. The winner is owned by Live Oak Plantation and trained by Bill Mott.
-Keelerman
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