Irvin S. Naylor’s McTigue set a Saratoga track record on Sunday when landing the inaugural Grade 1 Leo O’Brien steeplechase handicap for trainer Cyril Murphy and jockey Graham Watters.
The seven-year-old Fracas gelding rebounded from an early mishap in last month’s Beverly R. Steinman, where he unseated Harrison Beswick at the first fence, by taking the 2 3/8-mile, $150,000 contest at Saratoga in 4:30.45, more than a second inside the previous course mark, according to NYRA’s official recap.
McTigue turns failed Steinman run into Grade 1 breakthrough
McTigue was held up while Take Your Seats forced the pace, then began to close after the final fence as Rocket One moved into contention. Watters angled wide in the straight and McTigue kept finding to beat Rocket One by a length, with St James the Great 12 1/2 lengths back in third.
Murphy credited Watters for giving the horse freedom to read the race, while the result also handed McTigue his first graded stakes success after a long spell away from the track following his 2023 Jonathan Sheppard third.
The next Grade 1 targets at Saratoga are now in play, with Murphy naming the A.P. Smithwick Memorial on August 5 and the Jonathan Sheppard Memorial on September 2 as possible options if McTigue comes out of the race cleanly.
