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Aqueduct Fall Meet Concludes with Ortiz, Jr., Pletcher, Klaravich Titles

Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, and owner Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables wrapped up Aqueduct's 15-day fall meet with the titles in their respective divisions Sunday. Ortiz, Jr. earned his eighth riding title at the Ozone Park track with a fall record of 76-21-7-12, a 27.63% win rate, and earnings of over $1.44 million. His five fall stakes included three on Saturday: the GII Remsen S. with Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), the GII Demoiselle S. with Nest (Curlin), and the GIII Go For Wand S. with Lady Rocket (Tale of the Cat). Jose Lezcano and Luis Saez tied for second in the rider standings with 17 wins apiece.

Pletcher notched 13 wins during the meet, with a total scoreboard of 52-13-8-7 and earnings of over $1.55 million. His 25% win rate was also highlighted by five stakes, including three on Saturday: the GI Cigar Mile with Americanrevolution (Constitution), and the joint Remsen and Demoiselle wins while partnered with Ortiz, Jr. It was Pletcher's first Aqueduct fall title since 2018. Christophe Clement and Chad Brown tied for second in the trainer standings with 11 wins each.

Klaravich Stables won the fall meet leading owner title for the second straight year with five total wins and a final record of 17-5-0-5. With earnings just shy of $260,000, it was the stable's fourth owner title on the NYRA circuit this season. Michael Dubb and Repole Stable tied for second with four wins each.

The 56-day winter meet at Aqueduct will kick off Thursday, Dec. 9. First post on the eight-race card is 12:50 p.m. ET. The meet will feature 46 stakes races worth nearly $6 million in purses and will conclude Sunday, Mar. 27.

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Can Oaklawn Maintain ‘Boutique’ Status Over a 5-Month Meet?

The Week in Review by T.D. Thornton

It was a little odd to see Oaklawn Park in the mix of tracks running on the first weekend of December. It was even stranger to see the Arkansas track carding races for 2-year-olds, which has not happened since Mar. 27, 1975.

The winds of change are blowing through the pre-winter mists of Hot Springs. The biggest challenge facing Oaklawn as it embarks upon a Dec. 3-May 8 season for the first time is whether or not the popular track can retain the “boutique meet” flavor and feel it has cultivated over the past several decades even though the racing schedule will now extend over five months.

Oaklawn began nudging out the boundary of the spring portion of the season in 2019, when it scheduled a May 4 closure instead of the traditional mid-April wrap-up. Now the winter start has been rolled back to better dovetail with the end of the Churchill Downs meet in late November, attracting some outfits that raced in Kentucky while at the same time providing new competition to two other tracks controlled by Churchill Downs, Inc., Fair Grounds and Turfway Park.

When Oaklawn announced its intention to expand for 2021-22 back in July, it touted the ability to offer six-figure allowance races over a 66-day meet as a major draw to horse owners and trainers.

Although it's too early to get a definitive snapshot of exactly how the prospect of big bucks will translate to the Thoroughbred population, here's a comparative look at field sizes for all three venues based on the Friday, Dec. 3, and Saturday, Dec. 4, programs:

Oaklawn on Friday carded nine races featuring 75 starters. Saturday's 10 races drew 85 starters. The average field size combining both days was 8.4.

Fair Grounds on Friday ran nine races with 71 starters. Saturday had nine races with 64 starters. The two-day average field size was 7.5.

Turfway's Friday card had eight races with 77 starters. Saturday's eight races lured 83 starters. The two-day average was 10 starters per race.

Adverse weather was not an issue at any of the venues over those two dates. And clearly, there are some nuances that make direct comparisons dicey.

Oaklawn has the clear purse money advantage. Fair Grounds has the draw of a turf course, which should theoretically be helping its field-size numbers. And you can argue that comparing Turfway to either of those two tracks is not relevant, because Kentucky racing in winter is decidedly more blue-collar than the product at either Hot Springs or New Orleans.

The smart money says the matchup to watch over the course of the season is Oaklawn versus Fair Grounds. They're closer together geographically and draw from similar horse populations.

But Mother Nature could be an equalizing force. When ice and snow descend upon Arkansas, it tends to have a paralyzing effect. Oaklawn lost eight days of racing last February, and a desire to avoid the prospect of bad weather was among the factors cited when Oaklawn moved its second-weekend-of-January start date back to the fourth weekend of the month in 2019.

Remsen Recap

It's been a long time since the path to Louisville ran through New York on the first Saturday in December. Only three horses in the last 58 years–Thunder Gulch, Go for Gin and Pleasant Colony–have parlayed wins in the GII Remsen S. into a blanket of roses in the GI Kentucky Derby.

Winning the final graded stakes of the season in New York at nine furlongs looks promising in past performances, but that shine hasn't really carried over to subsequent 3-year-old form in recent seasons (with the notable exception of Catholic Boy, who won the 2017 Remsen, missed the 2018 Triple Crown, then won the GI Travers S.).

This year could be different. Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and Zandon (Upstart) put on a rousing stretch fight from the eighth pole home on Saturday at Aqueduct. Both were stepping up off of maiden wins and trying two turns for the first time, and they were 9 3/4 lengths ahead of the remaining six also-rans.

Mo Donegal had a ground-saving go under Irad Ortiz Jr. for most of the trip behind a dawdling pace (first four quarters in :25.18, :26.29, :24.87 and :24.94), then skimmed across the heels of the four frontrunners to escape traffic at the top of the lane.

Zandon, by contrast, stalked three deep and jockey John Velazquez had him cleanly positioned to get second run at two tiring longshots coming off the final bend. He split horses with authority, then braced for the mid-stretch confrontation with the onrushing Mo Donegal.

They crested the eighth pole in lockstep, then the outside-running Mo Donegal tightened the lateral gap between them under right-handed stick work. But being put into tighter quarters seemed to embolden Zandon, even though it initially seemed Mo Donegal had the better late-race momentum through their final eighth in :12.33.

The Equibase chart caller minced no words in describing how Irad Ortiz Jr. then threw “repeated exaggerated crosses with the left-hand rein near the face of the runner-up” in an “attempt to intimidate” Zandon. The two bumped and brushed approaching the wire.

Mo Donegal won it by a nose, but Zandon got his head down in front just after the finish, galloping out slightly stronger and longer than the winner. Both earned an 89 Beyer Speed Figure.

Laurel still a no-go

There were no timed workouts at Laurel Park through Sunday, even though earlier in the week track executives had stated that Saturday was the likely date for preliminary repairs to the dirt's cushion and base to be completed. It's now been a full week since horses have been allowed over the track at full speed.

As reported last week, seven Laurel Park horses have died since Nov. 6, and eight total have perished this autumn after sustaining fractures while racing or training over the newly installed main dirt track there.

Laurel had ceased racing back Apr. 11 to begin an emergency, multi-million-dollar overhaul of the main track, which reopened with no safety issues Sept. 9. But the onset of colder weather has brought problems that are believed to involve the improper settlement of the base, particularly in the homestretch.

Although executives from The Stronach Group, which owns Laurel, chose their words carefully when discussing the situation via press release last week, they are likely to face substantial grilling from the Maryland Racing Commission when the board meets Tuesday. A discussion of the safety of the surface had already been on the commission's agenda even before the track was forced to call off Dec. 3-5 racing.

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Breeders Ashview Farm, Santulli Hit Remsen-Demoiselle Double

It was 32 minutes that breeders Richard Santulli and the Lyster family will not soon forget. That was all the time it took for the partnership, which owns a limited number of mares, to have bred the winners of two graded stakes races on the same day at the same racetrack.

The feat occurred Saturday at Aqueduct where the Lysters' Ashview Farm and Santulli's Colts Neck Stables bred the winners of the GII Demoiselle S. and the GII Remsen S., contested as the eighth and ninth races on the Big A card. It began in the Remsen with Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and continued with Nest (Curlin) in the Demoiselle.

“My family has been around long enough to know this was a really special accomplishment because it's so hard to breed a graded stakes winner,” said Gray Lyster, who runs Ashview, located in Versailles, Kentucky, with his father Wayne, his mother Muffy and his brother Bryan. “To breed two and to win two-late season 2-year-old races in New York that everyone is watching back to back on the same day is a perfect storm. That doesn't happen very often, so we are enjoying it.”

Santulli and Wayne Lyster are friends who have known each other for about 40 years and have been long-time partners. Wayne Lyster and Santulli's Jayeff “B” Stables were the breeders of Eclipse Award and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Johannesburg and they also teamed up to breed Sweet Loretta (Tapit), the winner of the 2016 GI Spinaway S.

They're always on the lookout for good mares. They bought Marion Ravenwood (A.P. Indy), the dam of Nest, who was in foal to Pioneerof the Nile, for $400,000 ast the 2017 Keeneland November sale. Callingmissbrown (Pulpit), the dam of Mo Donegal, was bought privately. From there, it's a pretty simple formula–breed to the best stallions out there. (Marion Ravenwood will be bred to Curlin in 2022, and the partnership hasn't finalized plans for Callingmissbrown.)

“We really try to stay in our lane when it comes to breeding,” Lyster said. “We like to breed to really good, top, proven stallions. If not that, we will play the first-year market. Uncle Mo and Curlin are no-brainers for us. They are obviously good stallions and everybody should be using them.”

Mo Donegal was purchased for $250,000 at Keeneland September and races for Donegal Stable. Trained by Todd Pletcher, he broke his maiden in his second career start before stretching out to the mile-and-an-eighth in the Remsen. With Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, he won by a nose and had to survive a stewards' inquiry.

Nest races for the partnership of Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House and cost $350,000 at the same Keeneland September sale. Also trained by Pletcher and ridden by Ortiz, the Demoiselle was her third career start and came after a third-place finish in the Tempted S. She was also a narrow winner, scoring by a neck.

“That was something else,” Santulli said. “What a fun afternoon.”

It was the second straight year that Pletcher won the Demoiselle with a daughter of Curlin after winning the race last year with likely 3-year-old filly champion Malathaat (Curlin).

At this year's Keeneland September sale, Ashview and Colts Neck sold an Into Mischief filly who is a half-sister to Mo Donegal for $500,000. They also sold a colt by Violence who is a half-brother to Nest for $275,000.

The two yearlings give the Santulli-Lyster partnership something to look forward to in 2022, and so do Nest and Mo Donegal. They've both won graded stakes races around two turns, which bodes well for the GI Kentucky Oaks and the GI Kentucky Derby.

“That's what we're dreaming of, the Oaks and the Derby,” Lyster said. “How can you not? I don't want to say it is surreal, but we kind of had to pinch ourselves Saturday. We're really excited. Even if we don't make it to the Derby or Oaks, what we did Saturday was already a huge accomplishment.”

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Uncle Mo’s Mo Donegal Gets the Bob in Remsen

Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and Zandon (Upstart)–the top two choices in Saturday's GII Remsen S. at the Big A–both entered off promising last-out maiden victories and put on a show down the stretch with the former getting there by a hard-fought nose while surviving a stewards' inquiry in the process.

The rail-drawn, 7-5 chance Mo Donegal sat the trip in an inside fourth through easy fractions of :25.18 and :51.47 established by longshot Fromanothamutha (Unified). Locked and loaded beneath the hot-handed Irad Ortiz, Jr. rounding the far turn, he swung widest of all and into the clear in the five path at the top of the stretch.

Slightly favored Zandon, a debut winner going six furlongs at Belmont last time Oct. 9, got first run and struck the front approaching the eighth pole.

Mo Donegal was traveling nicely and looked en route to a convincing score as he began to uncork down the stretch, but Zandon fought back gamely on the inside. Mo Donegal kept on coming, however, and got the bob, and while it appeared on the head-on like the pair made contact just before the line, possibly as a result of Ortiz, Jr. angling in on Mo Donegal, the result was allowed to stand. It was a long way back to Midnight Chrome (California Chrome) in third.

“We were watching the inquiry upstairs and they put it into four screens so it was hard to see, obviously they came close together right at the finish,” winning trainer Todd Pletcher said. “I'd have to watch it again. I couldn't see from up there if they touched or not, but Irad [Ortiz, Jr.] did say it was right at the wire.”

Ortiz, Jr. added, “We were down the lane fighting in a big race. [John Velazquez] was riding his horse and I was riding mine. It was a good race and we got together a little before the wire, but it was a beautiful race. [Mo Donegal] tried his hardest and I did my best. We got lucky with the head bob and got there.”

Third with some trouble in his sprint debut at Belmont Sept. 30, the $250,000 KEESEP yearling relished the stretch out to a one-turn 1 1/16 miles in Elmont Oct. 21, earning an 82 Beyer Speed Figure while defeating the aforementioned Fromanothamutha by 1 1/2 lengths. The third-place finisher that day Life Is Great (Tapiture) returned with a blowout maiden victory at the Big A Nov. 20. Mo Donegal was making his two-turn debut in the Remsen, which offered 10-4-2-1 GI Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

This was the third Remsen win for Pletcher and second for Jerry Crawford's Donegal Racing, which annexed the early Triple Crown trail event in 2011 with Dale Romans-trained O'Prado Again.

Pletcher added, “I thought he ran great. He was getting a good, ground-saving trip and put himself in a good spot. He kind of had to angle out a little bit and lost some ground there but it looked like when he got there he is still trying to figure out how to polish it off. The other horse battled back.”

On a potential next start, he said, “I'll talk to Jerry [Crawford] and we'll see, but before the race we talked about going to Florida and wintering there. There's tons of options. We can always come back up here from there or go any direction.”

The unlucky Zandon, owned by Jeff Drown and trained by Chad Brown, raced three wide on both turns and covered 46 feet more than Mo Donegal, according to Trakus.

“[Mo Donegal] should have come down,” Brown said. “We got beat an inch. I thought we had the best horse in the race, so it's disappointing. But he's a nice horse so we'll get him going and train him towards the Derby.”

Pedigree Notes:

Callingmissbrown has had three foals on the ground, including a yearling filly by Into Mischief who brought $500,000 at Keeneland September from Solis/Litt, and is doing her part to carry on the promise shown in her own dam, Island Sand. The latter's wins included the 2004 GI Acorn and she sold for $4.2 million at the 2007 Keeneland November sale to Kern Lillingston Association while carrying her second foal by A.P. Indy. While she did produce a number of winners, including MGISP Maya Malibu (Malibu Moon), Island Sand brought just $52,000 from John Ropes at Keeneland's same sale in 2019 and was bred to the late Bernardini for next term. Callingmissbrown herself was bred to Curlin.

With only his seventh crop of racing age, Ashford Stud's Uncle Mo has churned out a remarkable number of top horses with Mo Donegal his 75th Northern Hemisphere-foaled stakes winner. Champion Nyquist leads his 40 graded winners, with additional GISW Mo Town his sire's first Remsen scorer in 2016. Other than Mo Donegal, Uncle Mo has no other stakes performers out of daughters of Pulpit, although he does have two by Pulpit's sire, A.P. Indy, and one by Pulpit's best sire son, Tapit. The late Pulpit is the broodmare sire of 85 stakes winners.

Saturday, Aqueduct
REMSEN S.-GII, $250,000, Aqueduct, 12-4, 2yo, 1 1/8m, 1:53.61, ft.
1–MO DONEGAL, 118, c, 2, by Uncle Mo
                1st Dam: Callingmissbrown, by Pulpit
                2nd Dam: Island Sand, by Tabasco Cat
                3rd Dam: Sue's Last Dance, by Forty Niner
   1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($250,000
Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Donegal Racing; B-Ashview Farm & Colts
Neck Stables (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr.
$137,500. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-1, $197,800. Click for the
   eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: A+++
   *Triple Plus*.
2–Zandon, 118, c, 2, Upstart–Memories Prevail, by Creative
Cause. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($170,000
Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Jeff Drown; B-Brereton C. Jones (KY);
T-Chad C. Brown. $50,000.
3–Midnight Chrome, 118, c, 2, California Chrome–Tipsy At
Midnight, by Midnight Lute. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED
BLACK TYPE. ($35,000 Ylg '20 FTKOCT). O-Alexandria Stable;
B-New Dawn Stable, LLC & Deo Volente Farms (KY); T-J. Tyler
Servis. $30,000.
Margins: NO, 9 3/4, NK. Odds: 1.45, 1.35, 41.25.
Also Ran: Mr Jefferson, Eloquist, Who Hoo Thats Me, Fromanothamutha, Judge Davis. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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