LIKE every day at Saratoga, a trainer was asked for a horse to bet, quietly, away from the crowd.

“You mean, beside Girvin in the Haskell?” Joe Sharp asked.

No, that will do just fine.

Five days after that question was asked, the dark bay colt upset the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park, nailing McCraken in the final stride to return $20.40 to all bettors and the guy who asked that question.

Owned by Brad Grady, Girvin rebounded from a tough nose loss in the Ohio Derby in June and a trouncing in the Kentucky Derby back in May. Sharp knew he was back, long before Robby Albarado galvanised a late run in the Haskell.

“He’s come back twice the horse physically, he’s turned into a man now, his chest has gotten bigger, his neck has gotten bigger and he’s very, very confident,” Sharp said before the Haskell. “I worked him the week before myself, he’s never trained better, he’s been on his hind legs cooling out, he’s better now than I’ve ever had him.”

And he’s always been pretty good.

The $130,000 yearling purchase won three of his first four starts, including two Grade 2 scores at Fair Grounds before finishing 13th in the Kentucky Derby. Nothing went right before the Derby as Girvin fought off a quarter crack and other hoof issues. Sharp backed off and regrouped, returning Girvin to the Ohio Derby where he lost a heartbreaker. That effort catapulted him to the Haskell, handing Sharp his first Grade 1 stakes score of his career.

“He’s overcome a lot in the last four or five months,” Sharp said. “He’s been in full shoes, both fronts, consistently in a day-in, day-out basis, he’s hitting evenly, starting to get more confidence. He did everything else because he’s tough and he’s an athlete, now he feels good, he’s eating well, everything, he just feels good going to work every day is the bottom line.”

Call the Haskell payday.