SARATOGA SPRINGS — Momentum is an often-used word in sports. In horse racing, it can refer to the horse’s staying power on the track. And it can be used to describe the continuous success of the humans associated with those horses.
Bustin Bay, jockey Jose Ortiz and trainer Linda Rice all drank from Momentum’s bucket as the 40-day Saratoga season got underway Thursday when the 5-year-old mare took the lead a sixteenth of a mile from home and went on to win the opener by a length and half with Jose Ortiz in the saddle for trainer Rice.
When the Belmont spring/summer meet wrapped up last weekend, Ortiz, the younger half of the riding brothers, defeated his brother, Irad, Jr., with 59 wins to Irad’s 58. Rice, who is a stalwart of New York every year, won the training title with 34 wins to Saratoga perennial contender Chad Brown’s 28.
Although nobody told her about it, Bustin Bay, a New York-bred daughter of Bustin Stones from Frosty Bay, was also well equipped with racing momentum. She was a geared down, seven-length winner of her latest outing at Belmont Park in June, defeating five rivals.
When asked about keeping his success going, a grinning Jose Ortiz replied, “I’m grateful for the opportunity. I just want to keep going. I hope I have the momentum.”
Because she was bred in the Empire State, Bustin Bay was worth some extra money for hay and oats. The normal total purse for those horses bred out of the state would have been $115,000. Bustin Bay collected the winner’s share of the New York-bred purse of $149,500 or $82,225 for the Winning Move Stable.
Forte pointed to Jim Dandy
Forte, the champion 2-year-old who would have been the favorite for this year’s Kentucky Derby if it were not for a bruised foot that was diagnosed the morning of the race, will be pointed to the $500,000, Grade II Jim Dandy Stakes on July 29. The mile and a furlong main track…
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