Laurel Park-Based Trainer Known for Success with 2-Year-Olds

BALTIMORE – Laurel Park-based trainer Jerry Robb, well known throughout the Mid-Atlantic for his success with 2-year-olds, took his act on the road and pulled off an upset on opening day of the first Belmont Stakes (G1) Racing Festival to be hosted at Saratoga Race Course.

David Hughes’ Studlydoright, bred in Maryland by Glenangus Farm, rallied from as many as 11 lengths back to pull off a 13-1 shocker in Thursday’s $150,000 Tremont, a 5 ½-furlong sprint for juveniles that served as the first of 24 stakes over the four-day festival. The winning time was 1:04.22.

“Anytime you win up here, it’s great. [Yesterday was] special because it’s a special weekend,” Robb said, joined in the winner’s circle by his wife, Gina. “We couldn’t be happier.”

With stable rider Xavier Perez in from Laurel for the mount, Studlydoright ($29.80) bobbled at the start and was outrun early racing in fifth through the first three-eighths of a mile. Perez tipped Studlydoright off the inside in upper stretch and closed steadily down the center of the track to pass pacesetting favorite Touchy as well as Three Echoes to win by 1 ¾ lengths.

“I knew he had a big late kick and I know he wants to go long. He wants to go a mile and a half. When you’re ready this early, you take what they give you,” Robb said. “It’s cool to win here anytime, especially a stake.”

Studlydoright was purchased for $110,000 during Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic Fall Yearling Sale last October at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. By Florida Derby (G1) and Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Nyquist, he is a grandson of Hall of Famer Curlin out of stakes winner and graded-stakes placed turf mare Peach of a Gal.

“We knew he had talent,” Robb said. “We expected him to win the first time. At this time of year, there’s nowhere else to run so you come here to find out [what you have], just like everybody else in the race.”

In his only prior start, Studlydoright raced next to last for a quarter-mile and came with a strong rally up the inside to win a 4 ½-furlong maiden special weight May 5 at Laurel, closing day of the spring meet, contested over a sloppy and sealed main track.

“He only ran an eighth of a mile that day,” Robb said. “He was jumping up and down the whole race and then he leveled off and came through a really tight hole. I really liked that about him. He got a lot out of that race.”

Robb said Studlydoright, who had been in Saratoga since Tuesday, would be considered for races like the Sanford (G3) July 13 at Saratoga and the listed Bashford Manor June 30 at Churchill Downs. Both are run at six furlongs.

“We’ll be somewhere,” Robb said. “Everything’s open.”