Blue Lion Thoroughbreds, Craig Taylor and Diamond T Racing's Morello registered a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure in winning Saturday's Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, the Classic Empire colt stalked and pounced to a 4 1/2-length score in the one-turn mile for sophomores to secure 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points. He currently sits fourth in the Derby standings.
Asmussen, who is still in search of a first Kentucky Derby score, also conditions Winchell Thoroughbreds' Epicenter, who tops the Road to the Kentucky Derby standings with 64 points.
Morello is perfect in three career starts – all at the Big A – beginning with a maiden score sprinting six furlongs in November ahead of a five-length romp in the seven-furlong Jimmy Winkfield on February 6.
The next local stop on the Road to the Kentucky Derby is the nine-furlong Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 9, which offers 100-40-20-10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points.
Toby Sheets, Asmussen's Belmont-based assistant, said following Saturday's test that the talented chestnut should be able to handle a stretch out in distance.
“I don't see why not. He definitely acts like it,” Sheets said.
Sheets said Morello, who has worked almost exclusively over the Belmont dirt training track dating back to June 2021, has continued to improve with racing experience.
“Since he got here and through his last three races, he's really matured,” Sheets said Sunday. “He looks good this morning. He ate up and everything. I'm happy with him.”
Bred in Kentucky by Robert B. Tillyer and Dr. Chet Blackey, Morello, out of the Congrats mare Stop the Wedding, was purchased for $250,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
Morello, who should now have enough points to make the “Run for the Roses,” could also be a formidable contender in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard.
Dave Lyon of Blue Lion Thoroughbreds said following Saturday's score that he will leave that decision in the capable hands of North America's winningest trainer.
“We won't get in the way of the trainers. If they tell us we're going to go a mile, we'll go a mile. There's a nice mile race on that day, too. We'll see what happens,” Lyon said.
Co-owner of Manhattan-based real estate appraisal firm Metropolitan Valuation Services, Lyon was raised in Saratoga Springs, New York. An alumni of Saratoga Springs High School, Blue Lion Thoroughbreds' blue and white silks are a nod to his alma mater.
Lyon said Saturday he was pleased with the trip engineered by jockey Jose Lezcano to topple a formidable field of 10 that included graded-stakes winner Rockefeller, a troubled 10th for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert; along with Dean's List [2nd] and Golden Code [3rd] for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.
“I like that Jose has left a little more in the tank,” Lyon said. “This was a good field. Baffert sent a horse across the country and Pletcher had two horses…we're just a small group of people from Saratoga running against the big dogs and we had the alpha today.”
In addition to Morello, Blue Lion Thoroughbreds is also the co-owner of the Ray Handal-trained Fromanothamutha, who finished seventh in the Gotham, and the impressive 4-year-old Disco Pharoah, who graduated by 19 1/2-lengths in Saturday's opening race.
By American Pharoah and out of the Mineshaft mare Somalia, Disco Pharoah romped at third asking in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight that garnered an 88 Beyer. Disco Pharoah is a half-sibling to multiple graded stakes winner Miss Mo Mentum.
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