At no point during the running of the $150,000 Tremont Stakes did Studlydoright look like a winner, except for when it really counted.

In the first stakes race of the four-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course, the two-year-old colt broke with alacrity from post 1 under jockey Xavier Perez, putting a head in front in the opening jumps before being taken about 10 lengths back. Odds-on favorite Touchy tangled withsecond choice Three Echoes and longshot Shoot the Nickel up front before establishing a clear lead heading into the far turn of the 5 1/2-furlong race.

At the eighth pole the race looked like a contest between Three Echoes and Touchy, but almost without notice, Studlydoright had sneaked up along the rail, then moved into the three path under strong encouragement from Perez. That encouragement seemed to have little effect on the chestnut colt…until he hit the sixteenth pole, accelerated impressively, and hit the wire 1 3/4 lengths in front.

“I was worried,” admitted Lori Hughes, who owns Studlydoright with her husband David. “But he just turns it on.” 

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