Maiden Winner With ‘Un’-Tapped Potential

The GI Kentucky Derby-bound Helium (Ironicus) wasn't the only 3-year-old colt to impress on the GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby card Mar. 6.

Untreated (Nyquist) put on a show earlier that day as well, graduating by a pole for Todd Pletcher at second asking with a flashy, come-from-behind maiden tally in his two-turn debut (video). He earned a very solid 86 Beyer Speed Figure.

A well-beaten sixth as the 4-5 favorite behind next out GIII Sam F. Davis S. winner Candy Man Rocket (Candy Ride {Arg}) going six furlongs in his unveiling for the late Paul Pompa, Jr. and trainer Chad Brown at Gulfstream Jan. 9, Untreated brought $300,000 from bloodstock agent Steve Young on behalf of Team Valor just five days later at the Keeneland January Sale. He was previously a $550,000 Keeneland September Yearling purchase, the most expensive of 44 yearlings from the first crop of promising young sire Nyquist to switch hands.

“The bottom line is, we got lucky,” Team Valor head Barry Irwin said. “Everybody knew about the horse before he ran. I was prepared to go to what he cost as a yearling, $550,000, and we got him for $300,000. Steve Young, who I've known pretty well for years, is the one who pushed me to buy the horse.”

That must have been one heck of a push considering Irwin's recent words regarding the current state of affairs for racing in this country and his plans for his longtime partnership to compete predominantly abroad going forward.

“I do not like racing in America anymore at this time,” Irwin said. “I am sick of it. The only horse I bought the previous year to stay here was [GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity and GI Arkansas Derby second and 'TDN Rising Star'] Gouverneur Morris [by Constitution]. I can't stand this crap that's going on. But this horse was very intriguing.”

Untreated came out firing once joining Pletcher's Palm Beach Downs string, highlighted by a trio of bullet workouts. He did, however, have a gap between his Jan. 30 and Feb. 20 breezes.

“His first work was a bullet work, but the guy had to tap him on the shoulder to get him to gallop out,” Irwin said. “The next work, another bullet work, but he can't even gallop out a furlong this time. He gets back [to the barn] and he's got an entrapped epiglottis. Now, I would be willing to bet, based on my experience with that, that this horse was already starting to do this when Chad him, but didn't show enough evidence of it yet. So, we got lucky. We had Dr. Yarborough do the procedure in his stall.”

Irwin continued, “It worked and his next two works were just unbelievable. Especially the last one. We knew we had something.”

Drawn wide in post eight in his first try for Team Valor and Pletcher, Untreated was about three deep while rounding the clubhouse turn and raced near the rear heading into the backstretch. The bay traveled nicely from there and launched an eye-catching, four-wide move leaving the four-furlong marker into third. He took over with ease approaching the top of the stretch and increased his margin to the wire, scoring by 8 3/4 lengths. The final time of 1:39.17 was just a few ticks off the Tampa track record of 1:38 3/5 for a mile and 40 yards.

“We were thrilled to see how he did it,” Irwin said.

Untreated is out of the graded-stakes placed Unbridled's Song mare Fully Living and is from the same family of champion Halfbridled (Unbridled). He was co-bred in Kentucky by Ashview Farm and Old Oak Farm.

Untreated is scheduled to return to the worktab Saturday, per Irwin.

Will we see him in a Derby prep next time out?

“I'll quote Mr. Todd Pletcher, 'We're gonna let the horse lead us to that decision,'” Irwin responded. “If we do the conservative thing, we'll look to run him in a small race somewhere. If we want to go crazy, we'll look at either the [GII Toyota] Blue Grass [at Keeneland Apr. 3] or [GII] Wood [Memorial at Aqueduct Apr. 3].”

Irwin concluded, “The problem is, he was ready to run in a prep race for the Tampa Bay Derby. If we had gotten that prep race in, then we'd be in a nice spot. Now, we have to be Big Brown in order to pull off something like that [make the Kentucky Derby]. My clients, by in large, are all dreamers and the Derby is the ultimate lure.”

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Jacob West Appointed US Agent For Goffs

Jacob West, Vice-President of Bloodstock for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, has been appointed US Agent for Goffs and will begin his role on Apr. 1, the sales company announced. West, who launched West Bloodstock in 2017, started with Taylor Made as a groom in their yearling division before progressing to Manager. During his time at Taylor Made, he also  worked for trainer Chad Brown during the Gulfstream Championship Meeting. West then moved to Three Chimneys as Director of Bloodstock Services prior to moving to Eclipse.

Commenting on the appointment, Goffs Group Chief Executive, Henry Beeby said, “We are delighted to welcome Jacob to the Goffs Team. Alongside his role at Eclipse he is the perfect fit for us and comes with the ringing endorsement of several industry leaders. He has a superb reputation for integrity, passion, hard work and a love of the thoroughbred, all qualities that chime perfectly with the ethos of Goffs. We look forward to working with him as we promote our sales to buyers in the US.

“At the same time we would like to acknowledge the contribution of Gatewood Bell over the last number of years and wish him the very best of luck in his new role with Keeneland.”

“Goffs has an outstanding reputation for producing top class results year after year,” said West. “I firmly believe the horses on offer at Goffs have international appeal and I look forward to bringing as many people as I can over to Ireland to see for themselves. I am delighted to be associated with such a top-level organisation as Goffs.”

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Excellent Timing Takes New York-Breds By Storm In Damon Runyon

Excellent Timing made his first start for new connections a winning one with a geared-down 6 3/4-length front-running win in Sunday's $100,000 Damon Runyon, a seven-furlong sprint for New York-bred sophomores at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

The Not This Time colt was purchased privately by Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables and Michael Dubb following a second-out maiden win for conditioner Charlton Baker in December at the Big A and transferred to the care of four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown.

Excellent Timing trained with Brown's string at Payson Park in Florida before shipping back to New York and breezing once at Belmont Park last Sunday ahead of his stakes debut.

“We had open company on our mind, but this time of year, everyone throws 3-year-olds to the wolves,” said Dubb, who celebrates his 65th birthday on Monday. “This horse could have a nice and long career, so we wanted to develop the horse the right way and not get him where he loses interest. We want to get him used to winning. Hopefully, once we do that, we can go to open company. It's the right thing to do with the horse.”

With Manny Franco up, Excellent Timing did not break sharp but was hustled to the front to mark the opening quarter in 24.49 seconds on the fast main track. The dark bay showed the way down the backstretch under pressure from It's Gravy as Perfect Munnings drafted behind rivals in third.

It's Gravy continued to press Excellent Timing into the turn as A Longlongtimeago was angled off the rail by Eric Cancel and rallied into contention with the half-mile ticking by in 49.19. Excellent Timing put away It's Gravy through the turn and opened up a 6 1/2-length lead on Perfect Munnings at the stretch call. Perfect Munnings chased in vain but there would be no catching the 3-5 mutuel favorite, who stopped the clock in a final time of 1:28.02.

Perfect Munnings completed the exacta by five lengths over It's Gravy. Rounding out the order of finish was It's a Gamble, A Longlongtimeago, Echoes of Destiny, Reggae Music Man and The King Cheek. Reggae Music Man, who leapt at the break and was caught in the hands of the starter, was declared a non-starter. Eagle Orb was scratched.

Franco said he followed instructions to the letter.

“The plan was to go to the front,” said Franco. “I just let him break out of there and get comfortable. He took me to the lead and did the rest. He's getting better. Chad had him for the first time today and did a really good job with him and I think he'll keep improving. I think he can go a little further, a mile maybe. We'll see what Chad does with him.”

Brown's New York-based assistant Dan Stupp said he was pleased with the effort.

“The horse ran huge,” said Stupp. “The team down at Payson did a good job preparing him this winter. He came up in great shape; he put on some weight and his coat looks great. Manny did a great job allowing him to show his natural cruising speed and getting him to relax and settle. The horse did the rest from there.”

Bred in the Empire State by Sequel Stallions New York and Lakland Farm, Excellent Timing banked $55,000 in victory while improving his record to 3-2-1-0. He returned $3.30 for a $2 win ticket.

Live racing resumes Friday at Aqueduct with an eight-race card. First post is 1:20 p.m. Eastern.

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Not This Time Colt Runs Away With Runyon

Excellent Timing rewarded his new connections with a dominant front-running score in the Damon Runyon S. for New York-breds Sunday. Second on debut at Belmont as the chalk Oct. 18, the dark bay ran up the score to 7 1/4 lengths and earned an 81 Beyer Speed Figure going a sixteenth shorter here Dec. 10 for Happy Face Racing Stable and Charlton Baker. He subsequently changed hands privately, and was heavily favored to handle the next test.

Right to the front, Excellent Timing doled out soft splits of :24.49 and :49.19 while always seeming to be in complete control. Already far in front as he straightened for home, the colt cruised to the wire unchallenged and was geared down late to become the fifth black-type winner for his well-regarded now second-crop sire (by Giant's Causeway).

“The horse ran huge,” said Dan Stupp, assistant to trainer Chad Brown. “The team down at Payson [Park in Florida] did a good job preparing him this winter. He came up in great shape; he put on some weight and his coat looks great. Manny [Franco] did a great job allowing him to show his natural cruising speed and getting him to relax and settle. The horse did the rest from there.

“Off the layoff, you aren't 100% percent sure what to expect. He had put in some good works down in Florida. We worked him a nice half-mile here at Belmont last week (:48 3/5 over the training track Mar. 7) and it went great. We knew he would run well, but you never know off the bench. The track is a little deep and tiring, but we're happy with the performance.”

Co-owner Michael Dubb said, “We had open company on our mind, but this time of year, everyone throws 3-year-olds to the wolves. This horse could have a nice and long career, so we wanted to develop the horse the right way and not get him where he loses interest. We want to get him used to winning. Hopefully, once we do that, we can go to open company. It's the right thing to do with the horse.

“The fact that it's a Not This Time [colt] gave us the idea that he could stretch out and we do expect the horse will stretch out. We'll go from there.”

The winner has a 2-year-old half-sister by Union Jackson and a yearling half-sister by Unified. His dam, a half to GSW Inexplicable (Miswaki) from an old and deep Tartan Farms family, most recently visited Maximus Mischief.

DAMON RUNYON S., $100,000, Aqueduct, 3-14, (S), 3yo, 7f, 1:28.02, ft.
1–EXCELLENT TIMING, 118, c, 3, by Not This Time
                1st Dam: Explicable, by Pioneerof the Nile
                2nd Dam: Mythomania, by Nureyev
                3rd Dam: Mythographer, by Secretariat
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. O-Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables LLC
& Wonder Stables; B-Sequel Stallions New York, LLC & Lakland
Farm (NY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Manuel Franco. $55,000.
Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0, $107,500.
2–Perfect Munnings, 122, c, 3, Munnings–Our Perfect Ten, by
Medaglia d'Oro. ($50,000 Ylg '19 SARAUG). O-JP Racing Stable;
B-Tammy & Robert Klimasewski (NY); T-Todd A. Pletcher.
$20,000.
3–It's Gravy, 118, g, 3, Freud–It's Macaroni, by City Zip. O/B-Mr.
Amore Stables, LLC (NY); T-Kelly J. Breen. $12,000.
Margins: 6 3/4, 5, 1 1/4. Odds: 0.65, 3.00, 13.60.
Also Ran: It's a Gamble, A Longlongtimeago, Echoes of Destiny, Reggae Music Man, The King Cheek. Scratched: Eagle Orb. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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