Sage scores sensationally at Saratoga

Starting in September of 2012, and continuing into May of this year, Discreet Cat's Sage Valley reeled off four consecutive victories with a combined margin of over 19 lengths culminating in his first Graded victory in the G3 Maryland Sprint Handicap. A minor hiccup in the G2 True North did not dampen the confidence of his connections, paying off on July 19th with a going away victory in Saratoga's G3 James Marvin Stakes.

Sage Valley broke alertly and pressed the pace in the race's early stages but jockey Cornelio Velasquez then allowed him to drop back into a stalking position in fourth. Entering the stretch, the front-runners could not withstand the strong stretch run of the four-year-old as he wore them down and then won going away by a widening margin.

Bred in Kentucky by Buck Pond Farm, Sage Valley is out of Ashwood C C, a seven-time Stakes winner by Cryptoclearance. The colt's granddam is Stakes winner Dylan's Crafty.

Discreet Cat is the sire of 13 Stakes performers in 2013, including other Graded winners Discreet Dancer, Discreet Marq and Debt Ceiling. The latter is undefeated in three career starts, including the G3 Bashford Manor at Churchill in his last, and is currently Timeform's highest ranked two-year-old in the United States this year.