Chestertown nailed down his first stakes victory in game fashion Friday at Saratoga, digging in to turn back a stretch challenge and prevail in the $150,000 Albany Stakes.

The gray son of Tapit seemed to turn a corner in his training this summer, and in this afternoon outing he put all the pieces together for jockey Jose Ortiz and trainer Steve Asmussen.

“Scott Blasi (Steve’s Saratoga-based assistant) said to Jose in the paddock, ‘Hopefully he shows up because no one is training better in our barn than him,'” West Point COO Tom Bellhouse said afterward. “He’s a horse that we’ve always loved and it’s great to see him get the job done in the Albany and hopefully this can be a steppingstone for him to work in open company as 4- and 5-year-old.”

WPT races Chestertown with Rob Masiello, Woodford Racing, Siena Farm and Chester and Marie Broman, the couple from Chestertown, New York, who bred the colt out of their Grade 1-winning mare Artemis Agrotera.