Any Given Saturday wins Haskell

Any Given Saturday apparently does his best work on Sunday.

The dark bay colt came through with the top race of his career, pulling away in the stretch for a decisive 4 1/2-length victory in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.

It was a performance trainer Todd Pletcher had been waiting for ever since the $1.1 million colt was sent to him by co-owner WinStar Farm. Any Given Saturday may have been eighth in the Kentucky Derby, but he came back last month and won the Dwyer Stakes by four lengths.

Pletcher had a feeling the Haskell would be Any Given Saturday's race.

"This horse came out of the Derby with a pretty good foot bruise," Pletcher said Sunday. "In his two races since, he's been extra special. He was just super today."

Winning jockey Garrett Gomez agreed.

"I knew he was a better horse than he showed in the Derby," Gomez said. "In that race, we turned for home and he just flattened out. When I sat atop him for the Dwyer he was a different horse. He was the same today. I was very confident."

In his first race on a Sunday, Any Given Saturday took the lead from Hard Spun with an eighth of a mile to go and cruised to his fifth victory in nine starts, with Hard Spun holding off Preakness winner Curlin by a head for second.

Curlin, the 4-5 favorite, looked to be moving into contention around the far turn, but never got rolling in the stretch under jockey Robby Albarado. It was a disappointing result for the colt, who was trying to rebound from a narrow loss to the filly Rags to Riches in the Belmont Stakes on June 9.

"He ran the worst race of his career and we'll have to find out why," trainer Steve Asmussen said.

Any Given Saturday now has to be considered among the top 3-year-olds in the country, along with Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, who made a triumphant return in last week's Jim Dandy at Saratoga, Curlin, Hard Spun and Rags to Riches.

"Using Curlin and Hard Spun, the Preakness winner and Derby second, as how you judge the 3-year-olds, he beat them convincingly today," Pletcher said. "He's as good as any 3-year-old in this crop."

Any Given Saturday will be shipped back to Saratoga on Tuesday, and Pletcher will contemplate the colt's next start. While Street Sense is all set for the $1 million Travers on Aug. 25, it's not clear whether Any Given Saturday or Curlin will be in the race.

All three, though, will be pointed to a return trip to Monmouth for the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 27.

"We'll work out his schedule to get to the Breeders' Cup," Pletcher said. "Right now, we're going to enjoy this one."

A crowd of 43,106 showed up on a perfect summer day at the Jersey Shore, and cheered long and hard for local hero Cable Boy, who set the early pace before giving way to the three most accomplished horses in the field of seven.

Any Given Saturday returned $5.60, $4 and $2.10. Hard Spun paid $5 and $2.10 in finishing a head in front of Curlin, who returned $2.10. Imawildandcrazyguy finished fourth, followed by Cable Boy, Xchanger and Reata's Shadow.

The winning time for the 1 1-8-mile race was 1:48.35. Any Given Saturday earned $600,000 and boosted his bankroll to nearly $1 million for co-owners WinStar and Padua Stables.

It was the second straight Haskell win for Pletcher and WinStar, with Bluegrass Cat winning last year's edition.

A promising colt from the start, Any Given Saturday won his first two races, then finished second in the Kentucky Jockey Club before taking the Sam F. Davis Stakes. The son of Distorted Humor lost by a nose to Street Sense in the Tampa Bay Derby and ran third in the Wood Memorial prior to the Kentucky Derby.

Curlin and Hard Spun were the only two horses to compete in all three Triple Crown races.

For Hard Spun, the Haskell was a tough loss after finishing second in the Derby, third in the Preakness and fourth in the Belmont.

"He ran a great race, he ran hard 'til the end," Hard Spun's jockey Mario Pino said. "He just couldn't hold off Any Given Saturday."