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Dynamic One Headed To Travers After Last-To-First Victory In Curlin

Dynamic One benefitted from a freshening following his Grade 1 Kentucky Derby appearance, returning off a nearly three-month layoff to go last-to-first in posting a 1 3/4-length win in Friday's nine-furlong $120,000 Curlin at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., for 3-year-olds that have not won a graded sweepstakes over a mile in 2021.

Owned by Repole Stable, Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable, Dynamic One set up a potential next start in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers on August 28. The potential path to the Travers has been an intriguing one for Dynamic One, who did not make his stakes debut until the Grade 2 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino in April at Aqueduct Racetrack. After running second, a head back to Bourbonic, in the Big A's signature race, the Union Rags colt earned enough points to qualify for the “Run for the Roses,” where he finished 18th on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs.

Hall of Fame conditioner Todd Pletcher then gave Dynamic One time off, training him at Belmont Park before shipping to Saratoga, and the respite worked wonders on Friday. He broke from the outermost post 7 under jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., who was content to take back as Snow House led the field through an opening quarter-mile in 23.63 seconds, the half in 47.34 and three-quarters in 1:11.14 over a track rated good.

After saving ground along the backstretch and into the final turn, Ortiz, Jr. tipped out Dynamic One around the far turn, using a five-wide move that placed him to the outside of a game Miles D. The two linked up in the stretch before Dynamic One pulled away under his rider's left-handed encouragement, hitting the wire in 1:49.36 to earn his second career win in seven total starts.

“There looked to be an honest pace on paper and we just wanted to let him settle,” said Pletcher, who previously won the Curlin with Outplay in 2017 and Turbo Compressor in 2011. “He actually settled back and dropped over to last. He was able to save some ground around the first turn from the seven post. I could tell down the backstretch that he was travelling really well and that Irad had a lot of horse. He said when he tested him to see where he was around the half-mile pole, he still felt like he had a lot of horse, so he waited a little longer and waited longer down the lane.

“He's a horse that always trained exceptionally well,” Pletcher added. “We always felt like there was a lot of talent there. It's taken him a little while to mentally put it all together, but today was his most professional race.”

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Ortiz, Jr. won his second career Curlin, adding to his score aboard Hofburg in 2018.

“I broke and I was able to settle down without taking too much out of him and I dropped in right away,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “In the first turn, I was on top of the rail and the one [Miles D] was taking back and I wanted to be there. I followed my trip all the way until half of my trip home I fought my way out because horses in front of me started coming back, so I worked my way out. After that, I waited for the right moment to roll because he's the type of horse before who likes to wait on horses a little bit.”

Off at 3-1, Dynamic One returned $8.50 on a $2 win wager. He improved his career earnings to $260,120.

“He's growing up mentally,” Ortiz, Jr. said “His mind's a lot better right now. He went by and he kept going. Before he'd look around and play around. Today, he was much better.”

Pletcher said the $725,000 purchase at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale could now target the Travers, which will be contested at 1 1/4 miles.

“I think he definitely showed that he is capable of stepping up and we were looking at this as a potential Travers prep and he gave us everything we could have hoped for today,” Pletcher said.

Co-owner Vincent Viola [St. Elias Stable] echoed his trainer's sentiments about targeting one of the most prestigious races for 3-year-olds next month.

“He's been coming around to that, I'd like to see his number off today's race,” Viola said. “I really think he'll be competitive in the Travers. I think that's where Todd will aim him after today. It's up to Todd, but that's what we're thinking.”

The lightly raced Miles D, making his stakes debut and just his third start overall for trainer Chad Brown, was seven lengths the best of 6-5 favorite First Captain for runner-up honors.

“I had a good trip but we were probably second-best today,” said Miles D jockey Joel Rosario. “I thought we had the race won turning for home and that horse [Dynamic One] made the last move and beat us. He ran really well.”

First Captain, who entered 3-for-3, including a last-out victory in the Grade 3 Dwyer on Belmont Stakes Day June 5, finished 1 1/4-lengths clear of Harvard for third. First Captain jockey Jose Ortiz said Collaborate lugged out when the duo straightened for home, but did not alter his chance at collaring Dynamic One.

“I was expecting him to be a little bit sharper,” Ortiz said. “He was a little bit lazy early on. We were making a good run until the quarter pole and Collaborate blew the turn and it hurt me a little bit, but I don't think I would have won the race anyway.”

Snow House, Collaborate and Beren completed the order of finish.

Saturday at Saratoga will feature a stacked 11-race card highlighted by three stakes in the Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt for 3-year-olds and up sprinting six furlongs in Race 8; the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy for 3-year-olds contesting at 1 1/8 miles in Race 9 and the Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green for 4-year-olds and up going 1 3/8 miles on the inner turf in Race 10. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

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Dynamic One Upsets the Curlin

Dynamic One earned his black-type badge with an upset of previously undefeated and heavily favored First Captain in the Curlin S. at Saratoga Friday, one of two local preps for the Aug. 28 GI Runhappy Travers S. Trailing the field early as longshot Snow House (Twirling Candy) clocked an opening splits of :23.63 and :47.34 with Beren (Weigelia) pressing from his outside hip and First Captain leading the second flight in fifth. Splitting rivals four wide turning for home with the field fanned out across the track, the chestnut moved into second behind new leader Miles D in early stretch and charged past that rival in the final sixteenth to score. Miles D held second over First Captain.

“There looked to be an honest pace on paper and we just wanted to let him settle,” winning trainer Todd Pletcher said. “He actually settled back and dropped over to last. He was able to save some ground around the first turn from the seven post. I could tell down the backstretch that he was travelling really well and that Irad [Ortiz, Jr.] had a lot of horse. He said when he tested him to see where he was around the half-mile pole, he still felt like he had a lot of horse, so he waited a little longer and waited longer down the lane.”

As for a potential start in the Travers, Pletcher said, “I think he definitely showed that he is capable of stepping up and we were looking at this as a potential Travers prep and he gave us everything we could have hoped for today.”

Graduating at fourth asking with a decisive score going nine panels at Aqueduct Mar. 7, Dynamic One missed by a head to stablemate Bourbonic (Bernardini) next out in that venue's GII Wood Memorial S. Apr. 3. He failed to fire last out in the May 1 GI Kentucky Derby, finishing a well-beaten 18th.

Dynamic One is the 20th black-type winner for his sire Union Rags and the 130th stakes victor out of a daughter of Smart Strike. The winner's dam Beat the Drums is a daughter of champion Storm Flag Flying (Storm Cat), who in turn is out of MGISW My Flag (Easy Goer). This is also the family of recent graded winners Performer (Speightstown) and Jouster (Noble Mission {GB}). Beat the Drums is also responsible for the unraced juvenile colt Videri (Honor Code) and a 2021 colt by Ghostzapper. She was bred back to Street Sense.

Friday, Saratoga
CURLIN S., $120,000, Saratoga, 7-30, (C), 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:49.36, gd.
1–DYNAMIC ONE, 118, c, 3, by Union Rags
                1st Dam: Beat the Drums, by Smart Strike
                2nd Dam: Storm Flag Flying, by Storm Cat
                3rd Dam: My Flag, by Easy Goer
($725,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-Repole
Stable, Phipps Stable & St. Elias Stable; B-Phipps Stable (KY);
T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $66,000. Lifetime Record:
GSP, 7-2-2-0, $260,120.
2–Miles D, 118, c, 3, Curlin–Sound the Trumpets, by Bernardini.
($470,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Peter M. Brant & Robert V.
LaPenta; B-River Bend Farm (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $24,000.
3–First Captain, 124, c, 3, Curlin–America, by A.P. Indy.
($1,500,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). 'TDN Rising Star' O-West Point
Thoroughbreds, Siena Farm LLC, Bobby Flay & Woodford
Racing, LLC; B-B. Flay Thoroughbreds (KY); T-Claude R.
McGaughey III. $14,400.
Margins: 1 3/4, 7, 1 1/4. Odds: 3.25, 8.20, 1.35.
\Also Ran: Harvard, Snow House, Collaborate, Beren.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG

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Curlin ‘Rising Star’ Fittingly Favored in Curlin

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY–After capitalizing on an opportunity against a small field in the GIII Dwyer July 5, unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' First Captain (Curlin) returns to trainer Shug McGaughey's original schedule Friday in the $120,000 Curlin S. at Saratoga Race Course.

In his first start away from Belmont Park, the chestnut colt will face six other 3-year-olds in the 1 1/8-mile race that returns after being dropped from last year's COVID-19-scrambled season program. His competition includes GII Wood Memorial runner-up Dynamic One (Union Rags), who is making his first start since he was 18th in the GI Kentucky Derby; Susan Quick and Christopher Feifarek's prolific homebred Beren (Weigelia), already a five-time winner this year; and Juddmonte Farms' Snow House (Twirling Candy), who was third in the Dwyer.

Run the day before the GII Jim Dandy S., the local prep for the GI Runhappy Travers S., the Curlin has become an alternate steppingstone to Saratoga's signature race. Since it is restricted to runners who have not won a graded stake longer than one mile, it typically attracts late-developers–First Captain and three others debuted in 2021–or horses getting back into graded stakes company.

Though he has made but three starts, First Captain brings a solid reputation to the Curlin. Bred by Bobby Flay, he co-topped the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale at $1.5 million. Flay is a partner in the ownership group of West Point Thoroughbreds, Siena Farm and Woodford Racing. He won his debut at seven furlongs on a fast track Apr. 24 and prevailed over a sloppy track May 29. McGaughey selected the Curlin instead of the Jim Dandy to give First Captain his first test around two turns and avoid GI Belmont St. winner Essential Quality (Tapit) until a possible matchup in the $1.25 million Travers.

“He doesn't need to meet him until it's a big day,” McGaughey said. “This was where I was pointing to after we won the allowance race. Then when the Dwyer looked like it was going to come up the way it did and then he had had a really good work the week before that, that's why we decided to go and take a chance. So now he's a graded stakes winner.”

In the Dwyer, First Captain made a wide run on the turn and went on to a 1 3/4-length victory, a performance that strengthened McGaughey opinion that he was a quality horse.

“I thought he ran really good,” McGaughey said. “It's not what he wants to do going a mile around one turn. The first two races it was kind of hard to tell because he made a few mistakes, but he didn't the other day. He was sitting in the right place, maybe a little farther back than I thought he would be, but it showed me that longer, two turns, is what he wants to do.”

McGaughey said the Curlin, with the added distance and the two turns, will be another challenge for First Captain.

“I think his races have all been good,” the Hall of Fame trainer said. “He's an easy horse to train. He's got a lot of composure to him. But he's got to prove that. It ain't nothing to prove in the morning; you got to see it in the afternoon. It's going to be a little bit deeper water this time, but the way he's been training since he got up here gives me the confidence that he's going to run a good race.”

Trainer Saffie Joseph said he thinks that 'Rising Star' Collaborate (Into Mischief), co-owned by Three Chimneys Farm and e Five Racing Thoroughbreds is ready to step back into stakes company. The Curlin will be his second start since undergoing a minor throat procedure to improve his breathing.

“He's a horse that trained, before he ever ran, like a really good horse,” Joseph said. “The first time he got beat. Then the second time he came back and won like the horse we think he was. We put him in the Florida Derby because he had showed that kind of talent. He traveled well and by the three-eighths pole he just kind of hit a wall. I don't think [a lack of] talent beat him on that day. I think more it was something to do with his air intake.”

After the colt finished more than 14 lengths behind Known Agenda (Curlin) in the GI Curlin Florida Derby, Joseph ran him back in the 6 1/2 furlong Roar S. He finished third as the 2-5 favorite and Joseph and his connections opted for the throat procedure. On June 20 at Gulfstream Park he won a one-mile comeback race by 5 1/4 lengths.

“For him, this is going to be the real test,” Joseph said. “I just need to see another race to make sure that it's legit as far as everything's functioning well. I know he has the ability, but you want to see it again. He has to prove it again before I can get total confidence.”

Dynamic One, bred by Phipps Stable, which is a partner with Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable on the colt, looked like he would win the Wood Apr. 3, but was caught at the wire by his longshot stablemate Bourbonic (Bernardini). In the Derby, he never was a threat after getting into some early traffic trouble. Trainer Todd Pletcher gave him a break after that and made the Curlin a target.

“We're optimistic,” Pletcher said. “I've seen stuff from him in the mornings that indicates he's capable of competing. Obviously, he just got beat in the Wood Memorial. At Churchill he didn't fire in the race. He's been a little bit inconsistent, but we've seen potential from him at times.”

Snow House started his career on turf Mar. 20 at Fair Grounds, but got away slowly and ended up fourth. When Snow House's second race was moved off the wet Keeneland turf Apr. 21, trainer Brad Cox left him in the field and he led from gate to wire.

“He performed well,” Cox said. “We ran him back and he ran a really big race, a one-turn mile at Churchill [May 29], had plenty of time to recover from the maiden victory. He ran a really gutsy race. I thought he ran a really good race in the Dwyer. This will be his second race around two turns and I feel it like it could be an advantage getting him back around two turns.”

Beren, a Pennsylvania-bred, has won three in a row–two of them in laughers in off-the-turf races–since stumbling at the start and finishing fourth in the GIII Bay Shore S. Apr. 3. The Butch Reid trainee prepped for the Curlin with a bullet half-mile work in :46 3/5 (1/87) here July 23.

Chad Brown will saddle Miles D (Curlin), a maiden winner co-owned by Peter Brant and Robert LaPenta, who drew the rail. Harvard (Pioneerof the Nile), trained by Rodolphe Brisset for China Horse Club and WinStar Farm, finished second in his first two career starts. Since blinkers were added he has shown early speed and won both starts.

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First Captain Headlines Friday’s Curlin Stakes At Saratoga

First Captain has stamped himself as a rising star through a perfect 3-for-3 record, and will try to keep winning ways intact when racing outside of Belmont Park for the first time in Friday's 12th running of the $120,000 Curlin for sophomores going nine furlongs at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The restricted stakes outing for 3-year-olds who have not won a stakes race over one mile in 2021 is named in honor of the 2007-08 Horse of the Year who became the first North American thoroughbred to reach the $10 million earnings mark. Through a record of 16-11-2-2, Curlin captured the 2007 Preakness, Jockey Club Gold Cup, and Breeders' Cup Classic during his 3-year-old campaign before adding four more Grade 1 events to his ledger in the Dubai World Cup, Stephen Foster, Woodward, and Jockey Club Gold Cup the following year.

First Captain will look to become the second Curlin offspring to capture his sire's namesake race after Connect won in 2013. Since breaking his maiden at seven furlongs by three-quarters of a length over next-out winner Mahaamel in April at Belmont Park, First Captain scored once more against winners five weeks later over Big Sandy going a one-turn mile.

Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey entered First Captain for his first stakes test last out in the Grade 3 Dwyer on July 5 at Belmont Park, and he handled the class boost with flying colors, capturing the one-turn mile by 1 ¾ lengths.

“He is doing really well up here,” McGaughey said. “He lost his whole 2-year-old year so he's still behind, but he's trying to catch up. I think that his last race was good and he certainly likes this track here. I'm looking forward to it. We have been taking it one step at a time.”

First Captain is owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Siena Farm, Woodford Racing, and celebrity culinary artist Bobby Flay, the latter of whom also bred the chestnut colt.

Purchased for $1.5 million from the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale, First Captain is out of the graded stakes-winning and Grade 1-placed A.P. Indy broodmare America and hails from the prestigious line of blue hen mare Best in Show, whose descendants include Belmont Stakes winners Jazil and Rags to Riches as well as multiple Group 1-winning Irish champion distaffer Peeping Fawn.

Jockey Jose Ortiz, who guided 2019 Curlin victor Highest Honors, retains the mount from post 4.

Three Chimneys Farm and e Five Thoroughbreds' Collaborate seeks to live up to the hype he garnered following an astonishing 12 ½-length maiden romp on February 27 at a one-turn mile at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla. The son of Into Mischief followed with a distant fifth in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Florida Derby for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.

After a significant cutback in distance when third to stablemate Moonlite Strike in the 6 ½-furlong Roar on May 15, Collaborate defeated winners in a one-mile allowance on June 20, both at Gulfstream Park.

“The Florida Derby was a bit disappointing; but it was probably a bit quick back also,” Joseph, Jr. said. “He ran third after that. We did a minor throat procedure on him and thought we saw the right horse last time going a mile again. I'm hoping to build on that. The Curlin will be a big test.”

Collaborate is out of the graded stakes-winning Quiet American mare Quiet Temper and was bought for $600,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale.

Jockey Tyler Gaffalione will ride from post 6.

Repole Stable, Phipps Stable, and St. Elias Stable's Dynamic One is the lone Kentucky Derby alumni in the Curlin field and has not raced since finishing 18th in the 'Run for the Roses.'

Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the son of Union Rags broke his maiden at fourth asking at nine furlongs on March 7 at Aqueduct.

“He got a good freshening after the Derby, and we've been thinking about the Curlin since then,” said Pletcher, who previously saddled Turbo Compressor [2011] and Outplay [2017] to Curlin scores. “He's trained accordingly, and we'll see if he can make a move forward. He and [Kentucky Oaks winner] Malathaat trained quite a bit together at Belmont and made good companions on a similar schedule.”

Dynamic One registered his final work for the Curlin on Friday, breezing five furlongs in 1:02.20 over the Oklahoma training track.

“I thought he handled it fine,” Pletcher said of the breeze. “He's always been a good work horse and trained really well. He's still putting it all together. Hopefully, as he continues to mature, he will continue to improve.”

Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. has the call from post 7.

Susan Quick and Christopher Feifarek's Beren arrives at the Curlin as the most seasoned horse in the field with ten starts and brings three consecutive stakes victories into the race for trainer Butch Reid, Jr.

The son of Weigelia, a previous track record holder at Belmont Park for six furlongs over the inner turf [1:07.04 on June 17, 2006], captured the Gold Fever and an off-the-turf edition of the Paradise Creek over Big Sandy before beating his Pennsylvania-bred counterparts in the Crowd Pleaser on June 22 at Parx Racing.

Reid, Jr. said Beren, who breezed a bullet half-mile in :46.60 seconds Friday over the Saratoga main track, could cross-enter in the $200,000 Grade 2 Amsterdam on August 1 going 6 ½ furlongs.

“We may end up cross-entering in the Amsterdam. He breezed awful fast the other day and I'm not sure that's conducive to going a mile and eighth the way he breezed. He came out of it great and hasn't missed an oat. He's doing very well,” Reid, Jr. said. “My inclination is to keep him around two turns, but the way he breezed the other day, it looks like he really handled the track well. He gives you options, that's for sure.”

Reid, Jr. did not rule out starting Beren on turf at some point.

“We wanted to try the turf with him too, but that one rained off,” Reid, Jr. said. “His father was the track record holder at Belmont at six furlongs on the turf. His mother, Silmaril, was a multiple-graded-stakes winner. He's very well bred and we have a lot of options. We'll see how he goes the next couple of days and make up our minds.”

Jockey Frankie Pennington retains the mount from post 5.

Trainer Rodolphe Brisset will saddle CHC and WinStar Farm's regally-bred Harvard, a full-brother to 2016 Champion 2-Year-Old Classic Empire who is unbeaten in two starts around two turns.

After making the third time the charm in his two-turn debut in May at Indiana Grand, the son of Pioneerof the Nile bested winners in a nine-furlong allowance race on June 11 at Churchill Downs, which featured next-out winner Dack Janiel's.

Harvard will be ridden by Luis Saez from post 3.

Peter Brant and Robert V. LaPenta's Miles D, a son of Curlin, makes his two-turn debut for trainer Chad Brown after a sharp one-turn mile maiden triumph on June 12 at Belmont Park. The bay colt made his first start since October, when fourth on debut finishing behind Speaker's Corner and stakes-winners Caddo River and Greatest Honour.

Breaking from post 1, Miles D will be ridden by Joel Rosario.

Completing the field is Juddmonte Farms' Snow House, who was previously third in the Grade 3 Dwyer. The bay son of Twirling Candy broke his maiden going a two-turn mile on April 21 at Keeneland Race Course before defeating winners around a one-turn mile on May 29 at Churchill Downs for trainer Brad Cox.

Snow House will break from post 2 under Manny Franco.

The Curlin is slated as Race 9 on Friday's 10-race card, which offers a first post of 1:05 p.m. Eastern. Saratoga Live will present daily television coverage of the 40-day summer meet on FOX Sports and MSG Networks. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

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