Sharp Azteca got his second stakes winner in stellar fashion Saturday at Monmouth Park when Sharp Aza Tack romped to a 7 ¼-length victory in the Tyro S.
Sharp Aza Tack is one of Sharp Azteca’s 13 winners, the most to date for any First-Crop sire. Sharp Aza Tack now has two wins in as many starts and has earned $100,200 for his owner R3 Racing LLC.
After breaking his maiden over the Santa Anita turf on June 10, Sharp Aza Tack was made the Tyro’s even-money favorite after shipping across the country for the five-furlong turf sprint. Sharp Aza Tack and Power Attack broke as won and were side-by-side through the first furlong, when Sharp Aza Tack began to draw away. He was up by two lengths at the midway point, and continued to pour it on to win very impressively in :55.71 on the firm turf.
“I decided to ship the horse to Monmouth Park after talking to owner Ron Arakelian,” winning trainer Doug O’Neill said. “We circled the Global Tote Juvenile Sprint at Kentucky Downs [Sept. 8] for him and we thought `what is a good spot between the win at Santa Anita and the Kentucky Downs race?’ The race at Monmouth Park was perfect.
“The only thing we said to [jockey] Jairo Rendon was to take advantage of this horse’s speed. He rode him with a lot of confidence. There were some good runners in there. I couldn’t have been more impressed or more proud of the way he ran. It’s hard to be more impressive than he was.”
Sharp Aza Tack was bred in Kentucky by Joe and Emily Cowles. He was purchased by O’Neill on behalf of Arakelian for $100,000 at the 2022 OBS March 2-year-old sale.
