Forego S. | Horse Racing Free Tips

Yaupon Injured, Retired

Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt's Yaupon (Uncle Mo–Modification, by Vindication), who became his sire's ninth Grade I winner with a tenacious victory in the Forego S. at Saratoga Aug. 28, suffered an injury while training towards the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Santa Anita Friday morning and has been retired from racing. It was previously announced that the 4-year-old would be entering stud at Spendthrift Farm for the 2022 breeding season.

Daily Racing Form was first to report the news.

Bred in Kentucky by the partnership of Betz, Lamantia, CoCo Equine, Magers and Burns and trained by Steve Asmussen, Yaupon ran the table through the first four starts of his career, including Saratoga's GII Amsterdam S., clocking 1:08.50 for the six furlongs. The dark bay colt added the GIII Chick Lang S. on the Preakness undercard last October, scoring by four lengths and cementing his status as the favorite for last year's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland. He endured a troubled trip and finished down the field.

Yaupon bounced back from an often-taxing trip to Dubai for the G1 Golden Shaheen in March with a 1 3/4-length success in Pimlico's Lite the Fuse S. July 4 prior to the Forego, his first try over seven furlongs, in which he got the better of a stirring final-furlong tussle with and an attempted savaging by the classy Firenze Fire (Poseidon's Warrior).

At Spendthrift, Yaupon is slated to stand alongside the Heiligbrodts' champion sprinter Mitole (Eskendereya).

“Aside from being extremely fast, Yaupon is one of the best-looking sons of Uncle Mo you will find anywhere,” Spendthrift General Manager Ned Toffey said when news of Yaupon's addition to the stallion barn was announced earlier this month. “When breeders come out to the farm and see a fast Saratoga Grade I winner by Uncle Mo that is as beautiful as he is on the end of a lead shank, we believe we will get a lot of 'yeses'.”

“Yaupon is an absolutely stunning physical with an unbelievable pedigree, and he might have been one of the fastest horses we have ever seen at a 2-year-old-in-training sales,” added Bill Heiligbrodt at the time of the announcement. “Corinne and I have been racing horses since the 1980s and have been lucky to be represented by a lot of nice horses. Yaupon is our best ever when you combine speed, pedigree and conformation.”

One of 75 black-type winners and 40 graded winners for his emerging sire of sires, Yaupon is out of a Grade I-placed mare who has also been responsible for MGSP turfer Sawyer's Hill (Spring At Last). Yaupon's 2-year-old half-sister Royal Flower (American Pharoah) was purchased by Mike Rutherford for $1.2 million at Keeneland September last fall, while his yearling relation, a Good Magic colt already named Limits of Power, was knocked down to Alan Quartucci, agent, for $575,000 on the opening day of this year's September sale.

Yaupon heads to the breeding shed with a stellar record of 8-6-0-0 and earnings of $703,264.

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Yaupon To Stand At Spendthrift

Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt's Yaupon (Uncle Mo–Modification, by Vindication), who became his sire's ninth Grade I winner with a tenacious victory in the Forego S. at Saratoga Aug. 28, will enter stud at Spendthrift Farm for the 2022 breeding season. The 4-year-old has the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Del Mar as his long-term objective before retiring to the stallion barn.

Trained by Steve Asmussen, Yaupon was victorious in his first four career trips to the post, including Saratoga's GII Amsterdam S., clocking 1:08.50 for the six furlongs, and the GIII Chick Lang S. on the Preakness undercard in 2020 which established him as the favorite for last year's Sprint at Keeneland. The athletic dark bay bounced back from a trip to Dubai for the G1 Golden Shaheen in March with a 1 3/4-length success in Pimlico's Lite the Fuse S. July 4 prior to the Forego, his first try over seven furlongs.

At Spendthrift, Yaupon is slated to stand alongside the Heiligbrodts' champion sprinter Mitole (Eskendereya).

“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Bill and Corinne [Heiligbrodt] on their newest Grade I winner, Yaupon,” said Spendthrift General Manager Ned Toffey. “Obviously, the last time they won the Forego at Saratoga it was with Mitole, so we are hopeful Yaupon can close out his racing career in similar fashion. Aside from being extremely fast, Yaupon is one of the best-looking sons of Uncle Mo you will find anywhere. When breeders come out to the farm and see a fast Saratoga Grade I winner by Uncle Mo that is as beautiful as he is on the end of a lead shank, we believe we will get a lot of 'yeses'.”

Added Heiligbrodt: “Yaupon is an absolutely stunning physical with an unbelievable pedigree, and he might have been one of the fastest horses we have ever seen at a 2-year-old-in-training sales,” said Bill Heiligbrodt. “Last year, after four straight wins and two graded stakes, we thought he had a very good chance to win the Breeders' Cup, and he ended up being the favorite in the race. But a very rough trip nullified any chance. After his most recent victory in the Forego, we look forward to returning to the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar. Corinne and I have been racing horses since the 1980s and have been lucky to be represented by a lot of nice horses. Yaupon is our best ever when you combine speed, pedigree and conformation.”

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Lexitonian’s Spa Challenge: Back-to-Back Victories

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.–When he goes to the post Saturday for the GI Forego S., Lexitonian (Speightstown) will try to do something new: follow a win with a win.

Lexitonian picked up his fifth victory in 19 career starts July 31 in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. as the longest shot in the field of nine at 34-1 and paid $70. It was his second graded stakes win and pushed the Calumet Farm homebred's earnings to $687,682, but was it just a one-off at the historic Graveyard of Favorites?

Trainer Jack Sisterson figures that even with his Vanderbilt score, Lexitonian will be price once again in the seven-furlong $600,000 Forego.

“He's got to prove himself that he can produce another performance like he did a few weeks ago,” Sisterson said. “As a barn, as a whole, we think he can do that. And we were just happy that he was able to show the public that he was capable of winning a race of that caliber because he's had some near-misses before in some Grade Is with maybe not the luckiest trips in those races. It was nice to finally win a Grade I with him and show the public that he is capable of winning a race like that.”

Sisterson said that he wasn't surprised that Lexitonian–who was put into the race early by jockey Jose Lezcano–was able to win the six-furlong Vanderbilt against a gang of graded stakes-winning veterans.

“If you really diagnosis his form–I'm obviously going to be biased–he should be a multiple Grade I winner,” Sisterson said. “It's unfortunate that he just missed in the Bing Crosby last year. He had everything going against him. He scratched in the Vanderbilt last year. We shipped him across country within a few days to Del Mar and he ran a great second in the Bing Crosby, just got beat a nose. Then in the Churchill Downs [a GI on the May 1 Derby program], he's horse 12 of 12, he's wide the whole way, he presses fast fractions and gets beat a head there.”

Following the Churchill Downs, where Lexitonian was 46-1, Sisterson tried him in the GI Met Mile June 5. He had a troubled trip and was eased.

Lexitonian was sent back to Sisterston's base at Keeneland, where he worked four times before being shipped to Saratoga. He turned in a very sharp half-mile breeze over the main track, :47.01, fourth-fastest of 113 at the distance, the weekend before the Vanderbilt. Sisterson decided it was time to try some different tactics training his 5-year-old.

“He's a horse that is very workmanlike in the morning. He knows what his job is and he knows to show up in the afternoons,” Sisterson said. “We've been working him down on the inside just to get a little bit more pressure to try and get a little bit more out of his workouts. It was actually the luck of the draw that we drew the one-hole because we've been working down on the inside.”

Lexitonian won the Vanderbilt from the inside | Sarah Andrew

Sisterson said that he broke from his normal policy and gave Lezcano some instructions before the race.

“I said to Jose, 'let's really change it up here and be aggressive and send him from the one-hole. Hopefully, somebody goes and engages with you. We really think that Lexitonian is a horse that when he feels pressure he will engage and respond,'” Sisterson said. “And he did, everything, that and more. When he was headed, he fought back. It couldn't have worked out any better.”

Lezcano will be back up for the Forego and Sisterson said they will stay with what was a winning formula.

“We'll definitely do the same tactics there on Saturday, be aggressive, jump out, go forward with the intentions of making the lead and see how the race turns out,” Sisterson said. “If anyone else wants to go with us they are more than welcome to. If no one wants to, we'll jump out and see how we go.”

Lexitonian won't surprise anyone this time and he and Lezcano are likely to have plenty of company up front. If form holds, he won't get much respect from bettors. He has never been the favorite in any of his races and the average of his odds in the five wins is 17-1.

“Yeah, I think he's always going to be a price,” Sisterson said. “People may say that was a fluke. He's obviously got to back up a performance like that, which he's never really done.”

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Win Win Win From the Clouds in the Forego

Win Win Win (Hat Trick {Jpn}) did just that in Saturday’s GI Forego S., coming from out of the clouds as yet another round of rain poured down over the Saratoga main track to secure his first top-level success. A step slow from the stalls, the Live Oak homebred was not even in the picture early, trailing the field by several lengths as Complexity (Maclean’s Music) and True Timber (Mineshaft) duked it out through an opening quarter in :22.28 and a half in :44.63. Rushing up into the frame approaching the bend, the dark bay was 10-wide on the turn for home and unleashed a furious late rally in the lane, storming past Complexity in the final strides for a jaw-dropping upset score.

“I honestly don’t know what to say,” said winning conditioner Michael Trombetta. “He dropped so far back and his chicklet and number actually went off the screen and I couldn’t even see across the track. Honestly, I assumed something bad might have happened where he took a bad step or something. I thought he was absolutely out of the race and might not have had a chance to even finish. But then turning for home, he came back on the screen. It’s just unbelievable. He’s truly a good horse and deserves this. I thought we were back at the [Kentucky] Derby, that’s how hard it rained. I think he can handle just about any surface.”

He continued, “It’s a distance he likes, but he doesn’t have the best gate speed. The way this track has been playing, it’s very hard to close. Well, what he did, I haven’t seen the whole meet.”

Jockey Javier Castellano was also in awe, saying, “What an amazing horse. I’m truly honored to ride the horse and very blessed with the way everything went. He was very far back and made a huge run to win the race. Not too many horses can do that. He did it and in a nice way.”

The Hall of Fame pilot added, “I got a little concerned when I got to the eighth pole. I didn’t have any contact with the field. I was way too far back. I had to start riding because I felt like I wasn’t going to get there, but the horse put in a lot of effort from the quarter-pole to the wire. He made me look good.”

Winner of the Pasco S. last term prior to a third in the GII Tampa Bay Derby, Win Win Win was second to now MGISW Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}) in Keeneland’s GII Toyota Blue Grass S. in April. Promoted to ninth in the GI Kentucky Derby, he was seventh in the GI Preakness S. and closed out his sophomore season with a victory in turf in Belmont’s Manila S. last July. Returning 11 months later in the grassy First Defence S. at Belmont June 7, the FL-bred was 10th that day and improved dramatically when second behind the Complexity in a one-mile optional claimer on the main track downstate July 2.

Pedigree Notes:

Win Win Win is the seventh Grade I winner for Hat Trick and the second to achieve the feat in North American, following 2012 GI Jamaica H. victor King David. He is also the 17th graded scorer for that stallion and one of his 34 stakes winners. Win Win Win is the third and final foal out of Miss Smarty Pants, who is a half-sister to GSW Unbridled Humor (Distorted Humor).

Saturday, Saratoga
FOREGO S. PRESENTED BY AMERICA’S BEST RACING-GI, $300,000, Saratoga, 8-29, 4yo/up, 7f, 1:21.71, sy.
1–WIN WIN WIN, 118, c, 4, by Hat Trick (Jpn)
1st Dam: Miss Smarty Pants, by Smarty Jones
2nd Dam: Devotion Unbridled, by Unbridled
3rd Dam: Icy Warning, by Caveat
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. O-Live Oak
Plantation; B-Live Oak Stud (FL); T-Michael J. Trombetta;
J-Javier Castellano. $165,000. Lifetime Record: 12-5-3-1,
$601,600. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus* Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Complexity, 118, c, 4, Maclean’s Music–Goldfield, by Yes It’s
True. ($375,000 Ylg ’17 KEESEP). ‘TDN Rising Star’ O-Klaravich
Stables, Inc.; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY);
T-Chad C. Brown. $60,000.
3–True Timber, 119, h, 6, Mineshaft–Queen’s Wood, by Tiznow.
($170,000 Wlg ’14 KEENOV). O-Calumet Farm; B-Mr. & Mrs.
Marc C. Ferrell (KY); T-Jack Sisterson. $36,000.
Margins: HF, 3/4, 1 1/4. Odds: 7.10, 4.60, 37.75.
Also Ran: Funny Guy, Lexitonian, Everfast, Whitmore, Mind Control, Majestic Dunhill, Fortin Hill, Firenze Fire.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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