Early Voting provided trainer Chad Brown and owner Klaravich Stables with their second straight victory in Saturday's Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct Racetrack, picking up 10 points toward the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby on May 7 at Churchill Downs.
Piloted gate-to-wire by Jose Ortiz, the son of 2021 leading freshman stallion Gun Runner built on his advantage down the backstretch several paths from the rail and glided home to a 4 1/2-length score, registering a 78 Beyer Speed Figure over the muddy going.
“He cooled out well this morning. He seems to have come out of it the right way,” said Brown's Belmont-based assistant Dan Stupp. “We weren't quite expecting that much speed from him. I know Chad wanted him to break well from that post, get a good forward position and he broke so well that I think Jose didn't want to take anything away from him. He ended up doing it pretty comfortably on the backside there. He and Jose did the rest from there.”
Stupp spoke highly of the ride from Ortiz, who shipped up from Florida for the mount.
“The day before, it seemed like everyone was in the middle of the track closing and it played out that way yesterday as well,” Stupp said. “Jose wanted to steer him to the outside. Down the stretch, he said the horse wanted to just stay to the rail and he was trying to school him a little bit. He went to the left hand to get him out in the middle of the track and teach him a little bit.”
Early Voting arrived at Brown's Saratoga division in late September from Niall Brennan Stables in Ocala, before shipping to Belmont in November. He displayed talent on debut going a one-turn mile on December 18 at the Big A.
Stupp said Early Voting improved exceedingly out of his maiden score.
“When I first got him, he was a little bit far away from a race, unfit and was difficult to train. As each work progressed and as we got closer to his debut, I saw glimpses of a good horse,” Stupp recalled. “When we ran him first time, we knew he wanted to run longer. We needed him to run once from both a conditioning and a maturity standpoint. This horse was just a totally different horse after his first race. There were small things with him. You had to lead him to the track with a lip chain, he just wanted to act up on the track a little bit. He was just so much better after that first start and I think there's more room for improvement.”
Stupp oversaw the winter campaign of last year's Withers winner Risk Taking, who also trained at Belmont through the winter.
“Risk Taking and him were totally different,” Stupp said. “Risk Taking was straight forward and was what he was. This horse is a late-developing horse. He needs experience, he needs each race to move him forward from a conditioning standpoint.”
The two remaining Kentucky Derby preps at Aqueduct are the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham at a one-turn mile on March 5 [50-20-10-5] and the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino at nine furlongs [100-40-20-10] on April 9. Last year, Risk Taking skipped the Gotham in favor of staying around two turns for the Wood Memorial, where he finished seventh.
“Chad and Seth [Klarman] will figure that out. It's a long way from now until the Wood,” Stupp said.
Purchased by Mike Ryan for $200,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Early Voting is out of the unraced Tiznow mare Amour d'Ete – a half-sister to 2004 Champion Sprinter and influential stallion Speightstown.
Early Voting secured the double for Brown and Klaravich one race after Southern District defeated winners going a one-turn mile. Racing with blinkers off, he posted a 6 3/4-length romp under Manny Franco, garnering a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure.
“He did it ears pricked and comfortably,” Stupp said.
The 4-year-old son of Union Rags made up for his previous effort when a troubled third going nine furlongs on January 9 at the Big A, finishing four lengths back of runner-up and stablemate Winter Pool.
“Down on the inside, he couldn't get a clean outside run, which is what he wants,” Stupp said of the nine-furlong effort. “He didn't run a bad race. He was just a little keen and Chad decided to take the blinkers off. He was training so well we decided to throw him in there. I wasn't expecting him to win that comfortably, but I would have been surprised if he didn't run well.”
Peter M. Brant and Three Chimneys Farm's Mystic Night successfully sought redemption on Friday when earning his third career victory in a nine-furlong allowance optional claimer. The 5-year-old Into Mischief gelding entered off a distant sixth in his stakes debut – the Queens County on December 19 at Aqueduct.
Mystic Night was a third-out winner last January at Aqueduct before defeating winners in March at the same oval. He returned to action two months later Belmont Park when second beaten 1 1/2 lengths and did not run again until September, finishing second at Saratoga.
“We thought about the Pimlico Special and we actually considered the Stephen Foster, but we had a virus run through the barn. We missed about a month of training which set him back quite a bit,” Stupp said. “He was probably a touch short on fitness when we ran him at Saratoga. He ran a credible race for a horse that might have been short on fitness. We ran him back in the stake and didn't perform but he came well out of it. We still have high hopes for him. Not sure where we go with him, but he came out of it well and we'll evaluate our options.”
Withers runner-up Un Ojo to continue at route distance
Cypress Creek Equine's New York-bred Un Ojo finished up well to be second in the Withers in his first start at nine furlongs for trainer Tony Dutrow.
A gelded son of Laoban, Un Ojo made up ground late under Trevor McCarthy to secure place honors by a head over Gilded Age, earning four qualifying points towards the Kentucky Derby for his effort.
Un Ojo had entered the Withers off a game runner-up finish to Geno in the seven-furlong NYSSS Great White Way, beaten just a neck after coming from off the pace and bumping with Geno down the stretch.
Dutrow said he was hoping the extra two furlongs in the Withers would be helpful to the dark bay gelding.
“We believed that the mile and an eighth would be good,” Dutrow said. “We were very happy with his effort. He's a little New York-bred with one eye. He's over-accomplishing every time he runs. Horses coming from last have been doing good over the track there, so I told Trevor to run late and get out in the middle of the track. I'm proud of our horse's effort.”
Un Ojo was previously been trained by Ricky Courville in Louisiana up until his debut for Dutrow in the Great White Way. He graduated at second asking in a maiden special weight at Delta Downs before finishing fourth in his stakes debut in Delta Downs' Jean Lafitte.
Dutrow said Un Ojo's effort in the Withers confirmed that he will stay at route distances going forward, ruling out a start in the one-mile Grade 3 Gotham on March 5 at the Big A but leaving the door open for a run in the nine-furlong, Grade 2 Wood Memorial Presented by Resorts World Casino on April 9.
“The owner is very enthusiastic and wanted to talk yesterday about where to go next, but I wasn't ready for that yet,” Dutrow said. “We both agreed that we will not be going to the Gotham. It's possible that we run in a New York-bred allowance going nine furlongs to get him his deserving reward for his efforts. That would give him great confidence if we were to go to the Wood Memorial. That would be the distance he likes at a track he likes.”
Dutrow said 3-year-old maiden colt Predicted is currently taking a winter vacation in Florida after finishing a gritty second in his third career start at Aqueduct on November 12.
Predicted, a son Tapit, is out of the stakes-placed Bluegrass Cat mare Ithinkisawapudycat, who is a half to Grade 1 Alcibiades winner and Canadian Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Spring in the Air. Predicted, the sixth foal from Ithinkisawapudycat, is a full brother to 2016 Grade 1 Spinaway winner Sweet Loretta and a half-brother to stakes-placed mare Bridlewood Cat.
Owned by breeder Mt. Brilliant Stable with Famousstyle Stables and Team D, Predicted made his debut sprinting seven furlongs to a fourth-place finish at Saratoga Race Course in August before stretching out to 1 1/16 miles at Belmont Park in his second start.
A well-beaten sixth in that start behind Grade 2 Remsen winner Mo Donegal, Predicted added blinkers and cut back to a mile in his most recent outing, an off-the-turf maiden special weight at Aqueduct in November where he raced just off the pace in third before taking command at the top of the stretch and just missing by a neck at the wire.
“He's a nice horse and we didn't really have a plan for when he was going to run but he was ready to run at Saratoga,” Dutrow said. “He did everything well and we thought it was a good effort. He ran badly at Belmont and we thought about stopping on him but we decided to put blinkers on him to see what we could see. He ran well and all was positive, so we agreed that we've only seen sixty percent of what this horse could do and decided to stop on something positive.”
Predicted was sent to Mt. Brilliant Stables' Kentucky farm for some downtime before heading to Niall Brennan's training facility in Florida, where his is currently preparing for a return to the races sometime in early spring.
“Niall broke him and now he got him going again a month ago,” Dutrow said. “He'll give him a work or two or whatever he would like to do and he'll come back up to me once the weather gets warmer. Hopefully he'll be a nice summertime 3-year-old and a nice 4-year-old.”
