Lexitonian Retired, Will Stand At Lane’s End

Lane's End farm announced today that the Calumet homebred Lexitonian will stand the 2022 season at their Versailles farm.

An impressive two-year-old debut winner at Belmont, the son of champion Speightstown went on to win the Grade 3 Chick Lang Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., along with the Concern Stakes before hitting the board in the G2 Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland in his 3-year-old season. At 4, he ran second by a nose to Collusion Illusion in the G1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif. In his 5-year-old campaign, he ran second by a head to Flagstaff in the hotly contested G1 Churchill Downs Stakes at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on the Kentucky Derby undercard and scored a huge victory in the G1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., defeating 2020 Champion male sprinter Whitmore and G1 winners Mischevious Alex and Firenze Fire.

“He's a horse who fights”, said trainer Jack Sisterson. “He has the talent, the will, and the heart. He's a class act winning and placing second in multiple Grade 1 races. I've had a tremendous amount of confidence in him throughout his career because you can run him over any track, and he always knows what to do.”

“We are thrilled that Calumet is entrusting us with a horse as special as Lexitonian is,” said Bill Farish of Lane's End Farm. “He has been a consistent top-level performer at all stages of his racing career. He has the pedigree, racing ability, and soundness that we think will set him up for success at stud.”

A 5-year-old son of prominent sire Speightstown, Lexitonian is the first foal out of the young Tapit mare Riviera Romper. She is a daughter of G1 Test winner Swap Fliparoo that Calumet acquired at the 2015 Keeneland November Sale for $310,000 while carrying him.

Lexitonian will stand for $7,500 for the 2022 breeding season.

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Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 Nets $26,699 For Winning Tickets

Saturday's Cross Country Pick 5 featuring action from Saratoga Race Course, Woodbine Race Track, and Monmouth Park, paid $26,699 for selecting all five winners for the 50-cent wager. The total pool was $125,652.

Four graded stakes comprised the wager, starting with the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks for 3-year-old fillies in Race 10 at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. Leader of the Band, a 10-1 selection for trainer John Servis, posted a two-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile contest, hitting the wire in 1:43.44 under jockey Frankie Pennington. Leader of the Band returned $22.60 on a $2 win wager.

Lexitonian provided an even bigger upset in the $350,000 Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt in Saratoga's Race 8. The Jack Sisterson trainee, off at 34-1, dueled Special Reserve from the top of the stretch before kicking away under jockey Jose Lezcano for a half-length win, paying $70. Lexitonian, the biggest price in the nine-horse field, completed the six-furlong sprint in 1:09.38.

Woodbine Race Track in Toronto, Ontario got in on the action when Souper Munnings, trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, bested Grey Seal by a neck to win a seven-furlong turf allowance for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up in Race 9. Souper Munnings, ridden by Patrick Husbands, won as the favorite, completing the course in 1:23.15 and returning $7.90.

Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., completed the final two legs, starting with Essential Quality's half-length win over Keepmeinmind in the $600,000 Grade 2 Jim Dandy for 3-year-olds going 1 1/8 miles in Race 9. Essential Quality, who entered off a win in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes last out, set himself up for a potential start in the $1.25 million Grade 1 Runhappy Travers on August 28 with his Jim Dandy score under jockey Luis Saez. The defending Champion 2-Year-Old paid $2.80 as the favorite, notching a final time of 1:49.92.

Cross Border closed the wager with a 1 1/4-length win in the $250,000 Grade 2 Bowling Green for 4-year-olds and up on the inner turf in Race 10. The Mike Maker trainee repeated as the Bowling Green winner, with Saez aboard, as the son of English Channel won the 1 3/8-mile marathon in 2:16.36. Cross Border paid $14.40.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on track, on ADW platforms, and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool.

The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.

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Moquett May Send Whitmore In Forego

Trainer Ron Moquett said he is considering targeting the Grade 1 Forego with 2020 Champion Sprinter Whitmore, following his third-place finish in Saturday's Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Owned by Moquett in partnership with Robert V. LaPenta and Head of Plains Partners, the seven-time graded stakes winner rated in between horses down the backstretch while taking some kickback. Whitmore made a menacing move in the upper stretch when switching to the outside and gained on frontrunners Lexitonian and Special Reserve, but came up 1 ¾ lengths shy of victory.

The 8-year-old veteran captured the 2018 running of the seven-furlong G1 Forego over eventual Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner City of Light.

“We're looking at the Forego,” Moquett said. “I was very proud of how he came back out of the race. Obviously, we'll pay attention to him the next week or so and see if he's up for it, but that's what we're hoping for.”

Still in search of his first victory this year, Whitmore has finished in the money in all four starts, which consists of runner-up efforts at Oaklawn Park in the Hot Springs on March 13, which he won from 2017-21, and Grade 3 Count Fleet on April 10, a race he won in 2017-18 and 2020. He arrived at the Vanderbilt off a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs.

Moquett said taking dirt down the backstretch didn't do Whitmore any favors.

“I'm sure it didn't help. He's sensitive about his eyes so that may have been why he decided to run outside instead of through the rail, but it looked like a lot of horses were taking kickback,” Moquett said.

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Lexitonian Gets 102 Beyer Speed Figure For Vanderbilt Upset

It took five years and 19 races, but Lexitonian notched a triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure for the first time when he registered his first career Grade 1 victory by topping Special Reserve by a half-length to win Saturday's $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., garnering a 102 number.

The Jack Sisterson trainee came close previously to attaining Grade 1-winner status when finishing second by a head to Flagstaff in a highly competitive edition of the seven-furlong Grade 1 Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day May 1.

After running last-of-sixth and being eased in the Grade 1 Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan on Belmont Stakes Day June 5, Lexitonian cut back to six furlongs in the Vanderbilt and shined, dueling Special Reserve in the stretch before edging clear, improving his career record to 5-2-2 with earnings at $687,682.

“I was just sitting outside his stall watching him this morning and he looks great and energetic,” Sisterson said. “He came out of the race in great shape. I was really proud of his effort because from a past performance standpoint, he might be a little untrustworthy at times with a good race and a bad race, but he does all the hard work. We don't mind taking a shot with him and being a longshot. As long as he's doing well, he gives us the confidence to run in any type of race we can.”

Lexitonian, who came into Sisterson's care in 2019, won his first graded race as a sophomore when capturing the 2019 Grade 3 Chick Lang that marked his lone graded stakes score before yesterday. Sisterson said the late-blooming success is reminiscent of his sire Speightstown, who did not win a graded stakes until his 6-year-old campaign in 2004 when he won four of them, including that year's Alfred G. Vanderbilt and Breeders' Cup Sprint.

“We always felt, even when we originally got him, that he had talent but could get better with age,” Sisterson said. “Dan Pride from Godolphin stopped by the barn this morning because he has horses with Brendan Walsh, as we share the same barn. Dan told me that Speightstown didn't win his first Grade 1 until 6 and had an 18-month layoff, so I can understand now why Lexitonian is doing what he's doing at the age of 5.”

Lexitonian, a Calumet Farm homebred, won for the first time in his last seven starts overall and posted his first victory since May 2020. Sisterson said it's a possibility the Kentucky homebred could make a return engagement in the $600,000 Grade 1 Forego at seven furlongs on Travers Day August 28.

“Right after the race, I like to set a plan and obviously we're here in Saratoga and he handled the track well yesterday, so the next stop could potentially be the Forego,” Sisterson said. “We'll see how he comes out of the race and goes from there. But you're looking at the race at Belmont [$250,000 Grade 2 Vosburgh on October 9] or bringing back home for the [Grade 2] Phoenix [October 8 at Keeneland]. The ultimate goal is the Breeders' Cup Sprint at the end of the year.”

In last year's Forego, Lexitonian ran fifth in an 11-horse field over a sloppy and sealed track in heavy rain. Sisterson said potential improved conditions could facilitate a better start this time should he choose to run him there.

“I know I'm a little biased, but I didn't think he ran badly in the Forego last year,” Sisterson said. “It was in a downpour and probably not his ideal conditions. He paid $70 yesterday, so no one respected him. But I understand why the public felt that way, because he threw in a clunker there, but when he's on his form, he has a chance.”

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Fellow Calumet Farm homebred Channel Cat set the pace in the $250,000 Grade 2 Bowling Green on Saturday before finishing fourth in the eight-horse field in the 1 3/8-mile inner turf test for older horses. Channel Cat, who was ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez for the third straight race, registered a 97 Beyer in his first race since running seventh in the Grade 1 Manhattan on Belmont Stakes Day.

“He looks in great shape this morning,” Sisterson said. “John gave him a great ride. We felt he'd be the speed early and it was, but it just wasn't his day. He's doing well.”

Channel Cat, the winner of the Grade 1 Man o' War in May at Belmont, has already achieved millionaire status, with the 6-year-old English Channel son compiling a 6-3-5 record in 28 starts with earnings of $1,406,022.

Tango Tango Tango, also owned by Calumet Farm, breezed four furlongs in :50.60 seconds on Saturday over the Keeneland Race Course main track.

The 3-year-old Tourist colt, who won his stakes debut last out in the 1 1/16-mile American Derby on July 17 at Arlington Park, was a possibility for the $1 million Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational on August 7. But Sisterson said it's more likely Tango Tango Tango will return to Arlington to run in the $300,000 Grade 1 Bruce D – a race formerly knowns as the Secretariat – on August 14.

“Probably more than likely, we'll go back to Arlington with him,” Sisterson said.

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