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Speightstown Colt Scores Breakout Win in Jerkens

L & N Racing’s Echo Town (Speightstown) registered his first win at the highest level with a 7-1 upset in Saratoga’s GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S. Saturday. The bay raced in mid-pack early as recent GI Woody Stephens S. hero No Parole (Violence) doled out a first quarter in :22.67 with MGSW Mischevious Alex (Into Mischief) pressing from second. Mischevious Alex turned up the heat on No Parole as the half went in :45.31 and Tap It to Win (Tapit) ranged up menacingly on their outside turning for home. Echo Town swung out four wide turning for home and swiftly inhaled the top three in mid-stretch, charging clear to a dominant 3 1/2-length victory. Tap It to Win held second and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Shoplifted (Into Mischief) completed the trifecta. Favored No Parole faded to ninth.

“He ran an excellent race,” winning trainer Steve Asmussen said. “It’s extremely significant winning the Allen Jerkens. Ricardo [Santana] did a great job with him today. I think the timing for him was better going into today than the Woody Stephens, and he showed it today. I thought 22 and 3 was soft for this group. I thought Echo Town ran the race of his life and Shoplifted, who was second in the [GI] Hopeful last year here obviously likes this track.”

The Hall of Famer continued, “It was great to see him put it all together when it matters so much on this stage. He ran solidly here. He ran really well into the Woody Stephens, but I thought the timing of this race was better.”

“He broke really sharp today and when the dirt started hitting him in the face, he was jumping a little bit but he was really comfortable,” Santana said. “I took him outside and he gave me a nice kick at the end. He was traveling really well. I knew there was plenty of speed today and I just wanted to sit behind the speed. I’m really happy with the horse.”

A debut winner at the Fair Grounds Jan. 18, Echo Town was third next out at Oaklawn Feb. 23 and returned to winning ways in the slop there Mar. 13. Missing by a head in the Bachelor S. in Hot Springs Apr. 25, he captured a Churchill Downs sprint May 25 prior to his effort in the Woody June 20 at Belmont.

Pedigree Notes:

Echo Town is the 18th Grade I victory for his sire Speightstown, as well as the 56th graded winner and 113th black-type scorer for the WinStar stallion. Out of GSW Letgomyecho, the winner is a half to Grade III victor J Boys Echo and GSP Unbridled Outlaw (Unbridled’s Song). The 18-year-old mare is also responsible for the 2-year-old colt Burrow (Candy Ride {Arg}), a $200,000 OBSAPR buy; a yearling filly by Gun Runner; and an American Pharoah filly born May 8 of this year.

Saturday, Saratoga
H. ALLEN JERKENS S. PRESENTED BY RUNHAPPY-GI, $300,000, Saratoga, 8-1, 3yo, 7f, 1:22.53, ft.
1–ECHO TOWN, 120, c, 3, by Speightstown
1st Dam: Letgomyecho (GSW, $136,200), by Menifee
2nd Dam: Echo Echo Echo, by Eastern Echo
3rd Dam: Kashie West, by Sir Ivor
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I
WIN. ‘TDN Rising Star’ ($100,000 Ylg ’18 KEESEP). O-L & N
Racing LLC; B-Betz, Betz, Burns, CHNNHK Thoroughbreds,
Magers, CoCo Equine & R (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen;
J-Ricardo Santana, Jr. $165,000. Lifetime Record: 7-4-2-1,
$375,320. *1/2 to Unbridled Outlaw (Unbridled’s Song), GSP,
$253,478; J Boys Echo (Mineshaft), GSW, $377,543. Werk Nick
Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Tap It to Win, 120, r, 3, Tapit–Onepointhreekarats, by
Medaglia d’Oro. O-Live Oak Plantation; B-Live Oak Stud (FL);
T-Mark E. Casse. $60,000.
3–Shoplifted, 120, c, 3, Into Mischief–Shopit, by Yes It’s True.
‘TDN Rising Star’ ($525,000 Ylg ’18 KEESEP; $800,000 2yo ’19
FTFMAR). O-Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stables, LLC & LNJ
Foxwoods; B-Machmer Hall, Carrie & Craig Brogden (KY);
T-Steven M. Asmussen. $36,000.
Margins: 3HF, HF, 1HF. Odds: 7.20, 3.65, 18.50.
Also Ran: Captain Bombastic, Sonneman, Mischevious Alex, Eight Rings, Hopeful Treasure, No Parole, Three Technique, Liam’s Pride.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Improbable Takes Whitney After Stumbling Start By Favored Tom’s D’Etat

Improbable notched his second consecutive Grade 1 on Saturday, taking advantage of a bad stumble at the start by favorite Tom's d'Etat to win the $750,000 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Under Irad Ortiz, Jr., the 4-year-old City Zip colt sat off pacesetter Mr. Buff, took took command into the stretch and won easily by about two lengths over By My Standards. After his bad start, Tom's d'Etat rallied to be third, with Code of Honor and Mr. Buff rounding out the field of five.

Improbable, trained by Bob Baffert and owned by WinStar Farm, China Horse Club and SF Racing, covered 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:48.65 and paid $8.50 for the win — his sixth in 13 career starts. A G1 winner at two of the Los Alamitos Futurity, Improbable was the beaten favorite in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 2019, concluding his year with a fifth-place finish behind Spun to Run in the G1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

He came back in 2020 with a close second behind Tom's d'Etat in the Oaklawn Mile and then returned to Southern California to win the G1 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita on June 6.

Plagued by gate problems throughout his career, Improbable was fractious while waiting for the gates to open but broke smoothly. Tom's d'Etat, however, went to his knees at the start under Joel Rosario and was several lengths behind the field by the time he recovered.

Mr. Buff led the way through slow fractions of :25.12, :49.74 and 1:13.36, with Improbable his closest pursuer in the run down the backstretch. Tom's d'Etat trailed.

Approaching the far turn, Ortiz asked Improbable for run, and the colt responded. He led into the stretch, the mile in 1:36.53 and was geared down in the final yards.

Produced from the A.P. Indy mare, Rare Event, Improbable was bred in Kentucky by St George Farm LLC and G. Watts Humphrey Jr.

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Baffert Breezes Derby Candidates Uncle Chuck, Authentic

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert was a keen observer of workouts by Uncle Chuck and Authentic, two of his many Kentucky Derby prospects, putting in timed breezes at Del Mar near San Diego, Calif.

Uncle Chuck, who'll depart Tuesday for Saratoga and the $1 million Runhappy Travers Stakes next Saturday, covered five furlongs in 1:00.20, co-best of 71 officially timed at the distance.

Clocker Toby Turrell had the son of Uncle Mo going the first half-mile in :49.20 with gallop-outs of 1:12.80 for six furlongs and 1:39.60 for a mile that carried around to the backstretch of the track.

“I'm very happy with the work,” Baffert said. “He's all set now for next week and the big challenge there.”

Authentic went 4 furlongs in :50.20. The Kentucky Derby-bound son of Into Mischief's only loss in five starts came to Honor A.P. in the Santa Anita Derby and he most recently was a wire-to-wire narrow winner of the $1 million TVG.com Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.

Juan Ochoa, in the irons for both Uncle Chuck and Authentic, had a hold on Authentic throughout.

“Just a little maintenance work,” said Baffert.

Another promising 3-year-old to work was Anneau d'Or, who went five furlongs from the gate in 1:01.60. Anneau d'Or was scratched from today's Shared Belief. Trainer Blaine Wright has expressed intentions to ship east for the Ellis Park Derby.

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Joy’s Rocket, Forester’s Turn Prove Best In Woodbine Stakes

Team Hanley's undefeated two-year-old filly Joy's Rocket was impressive in her stakes debut at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, on Saturday, taking off in the $100,000 My Dear Stakes to win by 2 3/4 lengths under Luis Contreras.

Joy's Rocket launched to the lead in the 5 1/2-furlong Tapeta test and clocked fractions of :21.94 and :45.44 while prompted by Rocket Reload. The Steve Asmussen trainee shook off her main rival in the stretch and won her first stakes outing by nearly three lengths in 1:05.10.

Favored Road to Romance pressed three-wide early but settled into stalking position behind the front-runners and then made a bid moving into the stretch to get up for second-place, with Rotary rallying to her outside for third.

Emmeline rounded out the superfecta with Rocket Reload, supplement Queen Rhonda and Silent Mamba completing the run down.

Joy's Rocket was the 8-5 second choice after winning at first asking over Churchill Downs's dirt track in sloppy conditions on June 28. Today, she returned $5.50 to win.

“She was very professional pretty much the whole way. From the beginning of the race to the end, she was so professional and I was very confident with her,” praised Contreras after taking his second My Dear title (his first was with Dream It Is in 2017). “I saw the race at Churchill when she won. It was a muddy track and she just went to the lead. I wasn't too worried because horses with this kind of talent, I think it's easy to adjust to whichever track they go.”

Bred in Florida by Weston Thoroughbreds Training & Sales, the Anthony's Cross-Queenie's Pride filly is now two-for-two to start her career.

Forester's Turn Triumphs in Greenwood
A late decision to enter Forester's Turn in Saturday's $150,000 Greenwood Stakes Presented by Stella Artois at Woodbine proved to be profitable for Hall of Fame trainer Robert Tiller and owner Rolph Davis.

Supplemented to the six-furlong turf event for Ontario-bred 3-year-olds after training well following a recent victory at Woodbine, Forester's Turn put forth a courageous effort to win the afternoon's co-feature.

Forester's Turn and Celebratory waged war on the front-end racing noses apart through a :22.61 first quarter and half-mile in :44.83. They continued to duel into the stretch with the stalkers, Forester's Fortune, 3-5 favorite Artemus Citylimits and Barilko, fanning out wide.

Digging in down the lane, Forester's Turn pulled ahead of Celebratory mid-stretch and then held off Forester's Fortune in the final furlong to prevail by a half-length in 1:07.91.

Artemus Citylimits edged by Celebratory 2 1/2 lengths behind for the show dough while Last American Exit and Barilko completed the order of finish.

Sent postward as the 7-2 second choice, Forester's Turn paid $9.90 to win and combined with Forester's Fortune for an Old Forester exacta worth $48.50.

“He's very game, this horse, and that young fella that rode him, he's very game too,” said Tiller of rising star Kazushi Kimura, who reined home his second stakes winner of the meet. “And he's young. It's a great thing to be young. I wish I was young again, but I'm not.

“This is a nice horse,” added Tiller, who co-owned dam Eff Bee Eye with longtime partner Davis when the mare won the 2014 Nandi Stakes. “At the end of the day, he's got heart. All is well, everything went well.”

The homebred gelding has now won five of his seven career starts and more than $200,000 in earnings.

Live Thoroughbred racing continues on Sunday afternoon with the $100,000 Victoria Stakes headlining an 11-race program that gets underway at 1 p.m.

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