This the eighth day of the Saratoga meet and trainer Steve Asmussen already has 5 2-year-old winners after Absolutely Aiden just cruised to a 2 3-4-length victory despite ducking in in mid-stretch over what is supposed to be a field of high quality juveniles.
Absolutely Aiden, a son of Stay Thirsty, broke running under Ricardo Santana Jr. and set fractions of 22.18 seconds, 45.81 and covered six furlongs in 1:11.08. He went off at odds of 7-1 and returned $17.80 to win. Earlier on the card, Asmussen won with Carter Cat, a 2-year-old son of Tale of the Cat, who won an off-the-turf maiden race. Asmussen has also won with Nitrous, Lyrical Lady and the New York-bred Bankit.
Wild Medaglia'doro ran very well to be second. He was far off the pace turning for home then rallied widest of all in the stretch.
Aurelius Maximus, a highly-regarded 2-year-old from the barn of Chad Brown, finished third. He did not appear to take dirt in his face too well.
Coast, the 2-1 favorite, faded eighth after chasing Absolutely Aiden from second early on.
Two runners from the fifth race were vanned off. Macho Citizen, a son of Proud Citizen trained by Bret Calhoun, was pulle up by Luis Saez a quarter mile into the race. Olympic Express, a son of Afleet Express trained by Danny Gargan, finished fourth. He was vanned off after jockey Kendrick Carmouche jumped off after the race.
Coast, the 2-1 favorite, faded to after chasing Absolutely Aiden from second.