Major Dude gave his freshman sire a second graded winner on the grass and trainer Todd Pletcher a record fifth GII Pilgrim S. trophy Sunday as he stamped his ticket to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf next month. A debut winner at Monmouth June 18, the $550,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling could only manage sixth in the Spa's GIII Sanford S. July 16 and was third behind romping stablemate Lost Ark (Violence) when stretched to a mile for Monmouth's Aug. 27 Sapling S. He had posted a couple of breezes over the Belmont turf in preparation for this first foray on the lawn, but was dismissed at 10-1 while looking to help Pletcher defend his Pilgrim title (Annapolis {War Front} won it last year).
Away well, Major Dude was reined by hot-handed Irad Ortiz, Jr. into the first turn to sit in a joint third behind a pace that seemed hot enough visually over the soft going (:24.10, :49.73, 1:15.84). He mounted an outside move to take over at the head of the lane, but was immediately tackled by odds-on Chad Brown pupil I'm Very Busy. That one seemed to have all the momentum, but Major Dude had the heart and edged away in the shadow of the wire to prevail by daylight. New York-bred longshot Lachaise was rolling late, but ran out of ground and settled for third.
“First of all, at the half-mile, I think I can go by those horses whenever I want to,” said Ortiz. “I feel like my horse switched off on the backside and saved a lot of energy for the end and I took some time.
“It was a longshot, the other horse [Movisitor], so coming back, I took my time and when I asked him to go by [Trevor] McCarthy's horse, I didn't go by that easy, so I had to start working a little earlier than I thought. But finally going to the quarter-pole, he made the lead, I asked him and he responded really well and moved forward. Then the other horse was beside me and when he felt that, he fought back.”
Ortiz won two graded stakes Saturday, including the GI Woodward S. aboard Pletcher-trained Life Is Good (Into Mischief); and he was completing a graded double for himself and Pletcher in the Pilgrim after booting home Chocolate Gelato (Practical Joke) in the GI Frizette S.
“He's a colt that we've really liked from the very beginning,” Pletcher said of Major Dude. “He was one of the first to come in [this year]. He was training well on the dirt and we gave him a couple opportunities and we just kind of got the feeling that we weren't getting everything that we thought we had. So, I saw a couple of Bolt d'Oros were running well on the turf and said, 'Let's work him on the turf.' Then it was like, 'OK, that's what we were hoping to see.' I'm not surprised he stepped up today. He's always been a very professional, straightforward colt. I'm happy he found what he was looking for.”
Pletcher confirmed that the Nov. 4 Juvenile Turf would be next.
Sunday, Belmont at the Big A
PILGRIM S.-GII, $200,000, Belmont at the Big A, 10-2, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:46.60, yl.
1–MAJOR DUDE, 120, c, 2, by Bolt d'Oro
1st Dam: Mary Rita (SP), by Distorted Humor
2nd Dam: Possibility, by A.P. Indy
3rd Dam: Personal Ensign, by Private Account
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($550,000
Ylg '21 FTSAUG). O-Spendthrift Farm LLC; B-Clearsky Farms
(KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $110,000. Lifetime
Record: 4-2-0-1, $165,250. Werk Nick Rating: A+++.
*Triple Plus* Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–I'm Very Busy, 120, c, 2, Cloud Computing–Two Kisses, by
Kissin Kris. 'TDN Rising Star'. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED
BLACK TYPE. ($50,000 Ylg '21 EASOCT; $135,000 2yo '22
OBSMAR). O-Team Hanley, Richard Schermerhorn & Paul
Braverman; B-Glenn E. Brok LLC (PA); T-Chad C. Brown.
$40,000.
3–Lachaise, 120, r, 2, Oscar Performance–Elusive Rumour, by
Elusive Quality. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE.
($180,000 RNA Ylg '21 SARAUG). O/B-Lawrence Goichman
(NY); T-Jorge R. Abreu. $24,000.
Margins: 1, 1HF, 2 3/4. Odds: 10.20, 0.75, 14.00.
Also Ran: Noble Huntsman, Ramblin' Wreck, Dataman, Battle of Normandy, Movisitor, Bramble Blaze, Fly Right, Torigo. Scratched: Vacation Dance.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs.
Pedigree Notes:
Major Dude becomes the fourth stakes winner for his highly regarded freshman sire, and the second to make the grade following in the hoofsteps of Boppy O, who exited a 10th-place run in the Sanford to upend Saratoga's GIII With Anticipation S. Aug. 31 in this same division. Both Bolt d'Oro and the runner-up's sire Cloud Computing stand at Spendthrift Farm.
This is the 54th graded winner worldwide out of a mare by top broodmare sire Distorted Humor, who also sired the dam of aforementioned Life Is Good. Standouts bred on the Medaglia d'Oro–Distorted Humor cross include Hong Kong Horse of the the Year Golden Sixty (Aus) and domestic MGISWs Elate and New Money Honey.
Major Dude's third dam is the great Personal Ensign. His dam, fourth behind Untapable (Tapit) in the 2014 GII Fair Grounds Oaks, was acquired by the Cleary family's Clearsky Farms for $230,000 at KEENOV '16. Her subsequent two foals, by Into Mischief, fetched $850,000 and $1,025,000, respectively. The BSW/Crow Colts Group, Spendthrift Farm and Gandharvi bought Mary Rita's yearling colt by Audible for $150,000 recently at Keeneland September. The dam was unsuccessfully bred to Authentic after that, and visited Charlatan this past season.
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