Bring Theband Home Streaks Home On Front End In Harvey Pack For Stakes Breakthrough

There was no catching Live Oak Plantation’s blazing hot Bring Theband Home as he wired the field in Friday’s $150,000 Harvey Pack (L), a 5 1/2-furlong Mellon turf sprint for older horses on Day 2 of the July 4th Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse and piloted by fellow enshrine Javier Castellano, the son of Into Mischief completed the course in 59.90 seconds, just one-tenth off the track and North American record of 59.80 set by Cogburn in last year’s Grade 1 Jaipur. He notched his first stakes victory on the heels of a close second in an optional claiming sprint on May at Gulfstream Park.

“I didn’t give any [instructions],” Casse said. “Javier knows him good. That was amazing. He loves this place. That was impressive.

“Early on, I thought this was a really, really good horse,” Casse continued. “Like a Breeders’ Cup horse, and he kind of let me down, but he’s had some little issues. But today we saw what I had expected of him for a long time. Now, we just have to keep him this way.”

American Monarch came under a ride in the center of the course with Outlaw Kid finding his best stride to the inside at the top of the lane while Bring Theband Home had already kicked clear as he marked the half-mile in :43.52. Outlaw Kid gave game chase with Works for Me unleashing a strong turn of foot late along the rail, but Bring Theband Home was never seriously threatened and soared through the wire 4 1/4 lengths clear.

Castellano, who guided Bring Theband Home to two allowance level victories last year, said he let the 5-year-old gelding do what came naturally.

“I had a lot of confidence before the race because he likes firm ground,” Castellano added. “Turf, firm and he likes it here. He won last year the same way, and he is very capable to do that, and I am very satisfied with the way he did it today.”

Flavien Prat, aboard the dual stakes-winning New York-bred Works for Me, said Bring Theband Home was too fast to catch.

“My horse ran a good race. He was just second best today,” Prat concluded. “He’s not the quickest, but I was in a good spot. That horse just ran away from us.”

Bring Theband Home made just his second stakes appearance, improving from an eighth in the Grade 2 Nearctic in October at Woodbine Racetrack. He banked $82,500 for his Harvey Pack victory while returning $9.30 on a $2 win ticket.