The word was out on several 2-year-olds going into a salty Saratoga maiden race on Aug. 12, but in the end it was Deterministic, a son of Lane's End Farm's Liam's Map, who overcame a troubled start to get the win. Trained by Christophe Clement and owned by the partnership of Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stables, Ken Langone, Steven Duncker and Vicarage Stable, the striking dark bay earned 'TDN Rising Star' honors in his promising debut.
The colt may have done it the hard way, breaking last in the field of eight with Joel Rosario aboard, but it was the raw talent he showed to overcome the poor start that impressed his conditioner.
“Rosario was very aggressive to get him back in the race, which he did straightaway,” recalled Clement. “He was a touch rank because obviously we asked him to get back into the race and the signal we gave him was to go on and quicken, but Joel got him to settle. Then he made a big, sweeping move and he was able to get there in the end. He was very professional and he got all of us excited.”
Deterministic was a $625,000 Keeneland September purchase for St. Elias. The operation's Executive Director of Racehorse Development Monique Delk remembers scouring the sales grounds for Book 2 yearlings and coming across the youngster, later describing him as a beautiful-bodied, well-balanced and athletic-looking yearling.
Delk said the Hinkle Farms-bred colt had a strong resemblance to his sire, who the St. Elias team picked out for $800,000 at the same auction 10 years earlier.
“I worked for Jimmy Crupi when we purchased Liam's Map for Mr. and Mrs. Viola,” Delk recalled. “He was the same–beautiful, athletic, the whole package. He was special from the get go. I always look forward to seeing all the Liam's Map babies, having that sentimental attachment to him.”
Along with Deterministic sharing a physical resemblance to his sire, Delk quickly noticed similarities in their demeanor.
“They just exude class and they have that smart look about them,” she said. “He took all of his early training with great ease. Everything just came very naturally to him.”
Deterministic made an immediate impression when he arrived at the Clement barn in Saratoga early this summer.
“He has always been a very good mover from day one,” said Clement. “He does not look like a 2-year-old. He looks like an older horse when he is running. He trains like an older horse. And then when he moves, he's just the most beautiful mover. He barely touches the ground. He's like a dancer.”
Timing and surface were two considerations Clement gave some thought to before the colt's debut.
While Deterministic's dam Giulio's Jewel (Speightstown) earned her three career wins on turf, the Clement team believed the colt's forward training and sire power would lead to a strong performance going longer on dirt. They had planned to start the colt a few weeks earlier in the meet, but pushed back his debut out of an abundance of caution when they noticed a mild cough one morning just ahead of the race. In the end, the experience Deterministic collected in the morning while awaiting his first start paid off on the afternoon of his debut.
“We worked him in behind horses and he got a bit of kickback in the morning,” Clement explained. “Because we delayed his first race by three weeks, he probably got a little more experience than the normal 2-year-old that we run.”
The Clement team is not ruling out the Sept. 4 GI Hopeful S., but they said they are leaning toward pointing the colt to the Oct. 7 GI Champagne S.
Also at the Clement barn this summer in Saratoga, the shedrow is home to two more promising Liam's Map progeny. Roses for Debra is five-for-six since breaking her maiden, most recently stepping up to graded stakes company to win the GIII Caress S. She is entered for Friday's Smart N Fancy S. Silver Skillet, who was stakes placed on dirt last year, just earned her first stakes victory last week in the Suzie O'Cain S. stretching out on turf.
Deterministic is Liam's Map's third Rising Star, along with MGSW Crazy Beautiful and GSP Beau Liam. The winner of the 2015 GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, Liam's Map is a top five leading fifth-crop sire this year.
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