LNJ Foxwoods' Kentucky homebred Scotland made both his two-turn and stakes debut a triumphant one in Friday's $135,000 Curlin, establishing early command and never looking back en route to an in-hand score in the restricted nine-furlong event for sophomores over the Saratoga Race Course main track.
Scotland, one of three Good Magic progeny in the field, entered from a rallying triumph against winners in a one-turn mile allowance on June 3 at Churchill Downs, two starts following a first-out maiden win going seven furlongs at Gulfstream Park for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. He displayed early prominence in the Curlin, where he kept Il Miracolo at bay through the stretch drive to win by 3 1/4 lengths.
“Maybe this [two turns] is what he wanted all along,” said Mott, who saddled Hofburg to a Curlin win in 2018. “We got a good foundation in him. We sprinted him a few times – he got the job done a couple times. First time in a stake and here we are.”
Scotland was sent by jockey Junior Alvarado from post 4 with a headstrong Il Miracolo, who broke to his outside, matching strides entering the first turn. Scotland was the clear pacesetter entering the backstretch through an opening quarter-mile in 23.69 seconds over the fast main track with Il Miracolo tracking in second. Il Miracolo moved up in tandem with Scotland through a half in 47.56 as a four-wide Blazing Sevens tracked in third with Lost Ark and Perform making up the rear of the compact five-horse field.
Around the far turn, 3-5 favorite Blazing Sevens, a last-out second in the Grade 1 Preakness, was under an all-out drive by jockey Flavien Prat as Scotland maintained a narrow advantage over Il Miracolo through three-quarters in 1:11.12. Scotland extended his advantage to one length at the stretch call and began to inch clear of Il Miracolo, crossing the finish line under a hand ride in a final time of 1:49.12.
Il Miracolo finished another three lengths ahead of Blazing Sevens, followed by Lost Ark and Perform.
Alvarado expressed no concern with the two turns.
“We were talking before this race and I told Bill, 'I don't know which race you want to point at, but I think we have to try two turns with him because I think that's the feeling that I'm getting – that he's going to be a good horse on two turns.' I'm just glad everything worked out today,” Alvarado said.
Alvarado said his horse was full of energy from the start.
“I know they were probably trying to go with the horse outside, but I thought I got so much horse from the get-go,” Alvarado said. “So, I just let him get comfortable, cruise along. He was traveling beautifully. I was always hoping he'd give me the kick that I was expecting at the end and I mean, when I turned for home and I asked him, he was there for me. I always thought he was going to be a very nice horse going two turns and I think he proved it today.”
Mott said he was not surprised to find his newly minted stakes winner on the front end.
“We thought the horse on the outside might try to go to the lead because he had won one of his previous races being on the lead,” Mott said. “I think they wanted to be on the lead, but we took it away from them. We had a good trip. We were on the lead and we were challenged a little bit, but not pressed overly hard.”
Mott said Scotland is likely to try the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers on August 26 at Saratoga Race Course.
“This was a test today to see if he could get the two turns, get the nine furlongs and get him a race over the Saratoga racetrack,” Mott said. “He answered both questions today. Obviously, the Travers is a different race and different competition. I'm sure we'll have that debate with the racing managers and the owners, but I'm sure the Travers would be up on the list.”
Luis Saez, aboard Il Miracolo, said everything went according to plan despite coming up short of victory.
“It was a good trip. He broke from there pretty well and we sat second right there. It was a very comfortable pace. He tried hard, man, he ran big. A good second, second best,” Saez said. “The plan was to try to break right and put him right there. We don't know if it was to take the lead or be second, the plan was just to try to be in the clear. So, everything came out like the plan.”
Trainer Chad Brown said the distant effort would likely not warrant a Travers engagement for Blazing Sevens, who captured the Grade 1 Champagne in October at Belmont at the Big A.
“It just didn't work out again for him. I'll re-evaluate him,” said Brown – a four-time Curlin winning trainer. “He certainly didn't run well enough to go on to the big race. We'll just re-group with this horse and see how he comes out of it and how we want to manage his future.”
Returning $6.90 for a $2 win wager, Scotland added $74,250 to his lifetime earnings which now stand at $211,210. He now boasts a 4-3-1-0 record with all three wins taking place over different tracks.
Scotland is out of the graded-stakes winning and Grade 1 placed Speightstown mare Gemswick Park, who also produced the multiple stakes-placed Tapped.
Live racing resumes on Saturday at Saratoga with an 11-race card, featuring the Grade 1, $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks in Race 9. First post is 1:10 p.m.
Saratoga Live will present live coverage and analysis of the Saratoga Race Course summer meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule/.
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