SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Though he hadn’t won a race through the first 29 days of the meet, trainer Mark Casse felt his horses were running well at Saratoga. Nine of the barn’s first 31 starters had finished second, five of those runner-up finishes coming in graded stakes, including Got Stormy in the Grade 1 Fourstardave and Tap It to Win in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens. “It’s not like the horses had been running poorly,” Casse said. “I honestly came into the meet thinking we’d do pretty good. That shows what you get for thinking.” Casse’s winless streak came to an end Wednesday when Jack and Noah broke on top under John Velazquez and led every step of the way in winning the $85,000 Mahony Stakes for 3-year-old turf sprinters by 3 1/4 lengths. Competitive Saint, second throughout, finished second, 1 1/2 lengths in front of Buy Land and See. :: DRF's Saratoga headquarters – Stakes schedule, previews, recaps, past performances, and more Island Commish finished fourth followed by Flap Jack, Maven, the 9-5 favorite, Old Chestnut, and Power Up Paynter. Jack and Noah bounced back from a fifth-place finish as the 4-5 favorite in the Grade 3 Quick Call Stakes here on July 24 when, after breaking slowly, he struggled with what was less than firm ground. “Last time when he jumped out of there, he kind of slipped right from the start,” Velazquez said. “Today, he had that firm ground underneath of him, that first jump he was out of there and that was it.” Jack and Noah, who had won the Sir Cat Stakes at Belmont running extremely fast early fractions, did the same Wednesday. Breaking from the outside post, he opened a six-length lead after an opening quarter in 21.50 seconds and maintained that large advantage through a half-mile in 43.55 seconds before completing 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:01.28. “I’ve had some fast horses through my years,” Casse said. “He’s one of the fastest horses I ever trained.” Sent off a surprising 5-1, Jack and Noah returned $12 to win. Jack and Noah is a son of Bated Breath owned by Gary Barber, who named the horse after his grandchildren.