Champions are officially crowned through a vote, but their legends are written on the racetrack. Already a champion, Godolphin's Essential Quality did not record the most important or most memorable victory of his career July 31 when he prevailed at minuscule odds and captured the $582,000 Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes for 3-year-olds at Saratoga Race Course.
Month: July 2021
Speightstown’s Lexitonian Upsets Vanderbilt
Lexitonian (h, 5, Speightstown–Riviera Romper, by Tapit), beaten just a nose in last summer's GI Bing Crosby S. at Del Mar, got his Grade I victory with a shocking, 34-1 upset in Saturday's GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. at Saratoga.
Drawn on the fence, he was hustled to the front by Jose Lezcano. The chestnut was pressed through an opening quarter of :22.04 and appeared to be in deep water as streaking former claimer and two back GIII Maryland Sprint Match Series S. winner Special Reserve (Midshipman) loomed large at the top of the stretch and hit the front. Lexitonian never quit, however, and battled back gamely in the lane to turn that one back and win by a half-length. The classy 8-year-old defending sprint champion Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) was third. Favored GISW Mischevious Alex (Into Mischief) was a no-show eighth.
Scratched at the gate in this race last year and re-routed to the aforementioned Bing Crosby, Lexitonian was a close fifth in a saturated renewal of last summer's GI Forego S. at the Spa. He finished second, beaten only a head at 46-1, in this term's GI Churchill Downs S. May 1. Eased in the GI Metropolitan H. at Belmont last time June 5, Lexitonian geared up for the Vanderbilt with a sharp, four-furlong breeze in :47 (4/113) at Saratoga July 24.
His resume also includes wins in the 2019 GIII Chick Lang S. and Concern S. in Maryland, respectively.
Trainer Jack Sisterson won the first Grade I of his promising career with Vexatious (Giant's Causeway) in last summer's GI Personal Ensign S. at Saratoga.
“Growing up, this sport was a passion of mine and now it's a livelihood,” Sisterson said. “I'm speechless. To be up here on a stage like today and even to compete in a race like this is very humbling.
He continued, “I said to Jose [Lezcano], he's a horse who fights. Please get him out of the gate and engage him early. I believe if you engage him early, he will feel the pressure and respond to that. At the half-mile pole if he comes off the bridle, perfect. That's him and he will respond. It's even better if a horse heads him because he'll fight on again, which happened. He stuck his head out in front today.
“I have to give Lexitonian a ton of credit. He ran in the Met Mile and he was eased. You'd think a horse that was eased and thrown in some clunkers, you'd sit back and think let's drop him down a grade and give him a confidence builder. But I've run him in every Grade I and been hard on him and this is how he responds today.”
Pedigree Notes:
Lexitonian is the 22nd GISW for Speightstown and the sixth GISW out of a daughter of Tapit (Gran Alegria, Harvey's Lil Goil, Qafila, Halladay and Carta Embrujada).
Lexitonian's 2-year-old half-sister Miss Raison (Raison d'Etat) debuted for Sisterson with a fifth-place finish at Arlington earlier this month.
Progeny in the pipeline for Riviera Romper — a daughter of 2006 GI Darley Test S. heroine Swap Fliparoo (Exchange Rate) — include a Keen Ice colt of 2020 and a Speightstown filly of this year.
My Meadowview Farm homebred Riviera Romper, a winner of one of seven career starts, brought $310,000 from Calumet carrying her first foal Lexitonian at the 2015 KEENOV sale.
Saturday, Saratoga
ALFRED G. VANDERBILT H.-GI, $350,000, Saratoga, 7-31, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:09.38, ft.
1–LEXITONIAN, 118, h, 5, by Speightstown
1st Dam: Riviera Romper, by Tapit
2nd Dam: Swap Fliparoo, by Exchange Rate
3rd Dam: Fliparoo, by Buckaroo
1ST GRADE I WIN. O/B-Calumet Farm (KY); T-Jack Sisterson;
J-Jose Lezcano. $192,500. Lifetime Record: 19-5-2-2, $687,682.
Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Special Reserve, 119, g, 5, Midshipman–Love Spun, by Hard
Spun. ($60,000 Ylg '17 FTKJUL; $140,000 2yo '18 OBSMAR).
O-Paradise Farms Corp. & David Staudacher; B-Russell L.
Reineman Stables Inc. (KY); T-Michael J. Maker. $70,000.
3–Whitmore, 123, g, 8, Pleasantly Perfect–Melody's Spirit, by
Scat Daddy. O-Robert V. LaPenta, Ron Moquett & Head of
Plains Partners LLC; B-John Liviakis (KY); T-Ron Moquett.
$42,000.
Margins: HF, 1 1/4, 2 1/4. Odds: 34.00, 3.35, 4.30.
Also Ran: Montauk Traffic, Firenze Fire, Strike Power, Three Technique, Mischevious Alex, Miles Ahead.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
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Sheldon Russell Nabs 1,500th Win
Midlantic-based rider Sheldon Russell secured the 1,500th win of his career when he captured Pimlico Race Course's $100,000 Alma North S. with 1-9 favorite Hello Beautiful (Golden Lad) Saturday. The 4-year-old filly, who is owned by Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables, and Magic City Stables, is trained by Russell's wife, Brittany.
“I'm just very happy that we got it out of the way, and for it to happen on Hello Beautiful,” said Russell. “She's been a great filly throughout my career, she's given me some great wins. She was mine and Brittany's first stakes winner together, so for me to reach a milestone on one of our favorite fillies, it's something I'll never forget.”
Russell teamed with his agent, Marty Leonard, to give Luis Barajas, Hello Beautiful's groom, $1,500 to celebrate the milestone. He had done the same–gifting $1,000 to his mount's groom–when he notched the 1,000th win of his career in 2015.
Maryland's overall leading rider in 2011, Russell has won eight career meet titles. He currently ranks second to fellow rider Charlie Marquez for Maryland's most wins in 2021. Russell and his wife have a toddler daughter and are expecting a second child later this year.
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Shedaresthedevil Returns To Del Mar Ready To Run In Grade 1 Hirsch
Shedaresthedevil departed Del Mar in September of 2019 after competing in two stakes races for 2-year-old fillies.
The daughter of Daredevil had finished third in the $200,000 Grade 2 Sorrento before being switched from dirt to grass for a fourth-place result after setting the pace in the $100,000 Juvenile Fillies Turf on the closing day of the meeting.
Shedaresthedevil stepped off a van in the stable area of the track Wednesday evening following a journey from Kentucky. And trust Eric Gary, the assistant to trainer Brad Cox who arrived a while earlier, the two years had made a big difference.
“She is one big, mature filly,” said Gary.
Gary, a Louisiana-born, second-generation trainer has only been working for nationally prominent Cox for a couple of months. But with Cox and his son Blake occupied at Saratoga with Essential Quality in Saturday's $600,000 Grade 2 Jim Dandy, among others, Gary got the call to travel with and saddle Shedaresthedevil for Sunday's $300,000 Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.
Shedaresthedevil, whose five graded stakes victories in 2020-21 include the 2020 Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks and 2021 Grade 1 La Troienne, both at Churchill Downs, is the 7-5 morning-line favorite for the Hirsh, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff.
Gary estimated that Shedaresthedevil might “be pushing toward 18” hands in height – nearly 6-feet measured at the withers, or top of the shoulder. He invited a visitor into the stall to stand next to her for verification and it produced no argument.
“She's very easy going around the barn, but very aggressive when it's time for training or racing,” Gary said.
Shedaresthedevil won four times and was never out of the money in seven starts in 2020 for earnings of $1,193,070. This year, she's 2-for-3 with wins in the Grade 2 Azeri at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., in March, the Grade 1 La Troienne at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., in April, and a third to Letruska, the current No. 1 rated older filly or mare on dirt, in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on June 5 at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.
All three races were at 1 1/16 miles, the same distance as the Hirsch. Because of the huge layout of Belmont Park, the Phipps was contested around one turn. Connections for Shedaresthedevil are hoping that a return to two turns creates a return to the winner's circle.
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Del Mar will be her fourth track in as many starts this year.
“She travels really well,” Gary said. “We've had her out a couple times and she has handled the track really well. I think this race has probably been a part of the plan for her all along. The ultimate goal is the Breeders' Cup here, so that would figure.”
Shedaresthedevil did her serious training at Ellis Park in Kentucky and got high praise from Cox's assistant there according to Gary. Race instructions and strategy will be up to Cox and jockey Florent Geroux.
“They're very close, I know they're very happy with the way she has trained and they have a plan they've already talked about,” Gary said.
The Clement L. Hirsch field from the rail with jockeys and morning line odds in parenthesis: Warren's Showtime (Juan Hernandez, 8-1); Clockstrikestwelve (Kyle Frey, 30-1); As Time Goes By (Mike Smith, 8-5); Paige Anne (Flavien Prat, 15-1); Cover Version (Abel Cedillo, 30-1); Venetian Harbor (Mario Gutierrez, 2-1) and Shedaresthedevil (Florent Geroux, 7-5).
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