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Horologist Goes Wire to Wire In Summer Colony At Saratoga

There's A Chance Stable, Medallion Racing, Abbondanza Racing, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher's Horologist made every pole a winning one in Sunday's $120,000 Summer Colony, at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

A multiple graded-stakes winner – and the 2020 New Jersey-bred Horse of the Year – Horologist broke sharply under Junior Alvarado and never relinquished in the nine-furlong event for older fillies and mares that have not won a graded race in 2021.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Horologist set splits of :23.66, :47.34, and 1:11.77 with Gibberish tracking her early foot in second position over a good and sealed main track. The pacesetter took the field into the final turn with stalkers So Darn Hot and Gold Spirit inching closer with Gibberish failing to pester.

Out of the turn, Horologist widened her advantage to seven lengths and stayed on strong to the wire for an authoritative 8 1/2-length score in a final time of 1:51.57. Gold Spirit completed the exacta by 3 3/4-lengths over So Darn Hot with Gibberish and Thankful, who stumbled at the start, completing the order of finish. Dunbar Road was scratched.

Mott said he wasn't concerned about the off going.

“She hadn't had any previous form on an off track, but she seemed to me that she would be a horse who would handle it fine. I wasn't concerned about that,” Mott said.

Horologist entered from a hard-fought second to Royal Flag after setting the pace from the inside post in the Grade 3 Shuvee on July 25 at the Spa. Two starts back, Horologist was boxed in after exiting the inside post in the Lady Jacqueline on June 26 at Thistledown in North Randall, Ohio.

“She was inside and stuck down in there the last two races,” Mott said. “We let her bounce out of there [today] and do her thing without getting in her way. I think we've kept her from winning on a couple of occasions. A win does everyone some good.”

Alvarado said he rode the even-money favorite with confidence.

“It was simple. I rode her like the best horse and she showed it out there,” Alvarado said. “Once she put herself on the lead, she took me all the way around. She's very quick and is a good gate filly. If she wanted, she could go faster without using much.”

A three-time graded stakes winner, the New Jersey-bred daughter of Gemologist captured the 2019 Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks and last year added the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., and Grade 2 Beldame at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., to her ledger in her award-winning season.

Mott said he will again point Horologist to the nine-furlong $250,000 Grade 2 Beldame, which is slated for October 10 at Belmont.

Horologist banked $66,000 in victory while improving her record to 25-9-3-4. She returned $4.20 for a $2 win ticket.

Live racing resumes Wednesday at Saratoga with a 10-race card featuring the $120,000 John's Call, a 1 5/8-mile stamina test on the Mellon turf course for 4-year-olds and up who have not won a graded stakes this year. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

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Royal Flag Drives Late To Take Shuvee At Saratoga

Second to Letruska in the 2020 edition, Royal Flag came flying late to take the Grade 3 Shuvee at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The Chad Brown trainee capitalized on a steady early pace, sprinting by Horologist and Crystal Ball in the race's final strides to win by three-quarters of a length.

Breaking from the outside post in a field of seven, Joel Rosario settled Royal Flag at the back of the field around the first turn and into the backstretch as Horologist set early fractions of :23.35 for the first quarter and :47.01 for the half-mile. Trained by Bill Mott, Horologist looked like she might take the field wire to wire as she kept the lead around the final turn into the stretch.

Behind her, Royal Flag was twelve lengths back, Rosario steadying his mare after going wide around the final turn. Down the Saratoga straight, Horologist still led by a half-length, with Gold Spirit, Crystal Ball, and Dunbar Road in pursuit, Royal Flag driving down the center of the track. Will Farish's 5-year-old mare was the fastest of them all in the end, passing Horologist and Crystal Ball to take the G3 Shuvee. The final time for the 1 1/8 miles was 1:49.42.

Find this race's chart here.

Royal Flag paid $5.30, $3.10, and $2.40. Horologist paid $5.10 and $3.40. Crystal Ball paid $3.40 to show.

“She was able to get up in time. She was quite far back turning for home. I was very proud of her effort. She showed that she has a lot of heart. She might not have run a lot of times in her career, but every time she shows up.” Trainer Chad Brown said after the race. “I don't know if she likes time in between races or something always happens that requires us to give her time. This is her last season racing so hopefully we can give her a more consistent campaign now and get a few starts into her before she's retired.”

“Chad told me that to stay out was probably the best. I was just following his other horse [Dunbar Road]. I just wanted to have a clean run when I started moving.” Joel Rosario told the NYRA Communications Office after the G3 Shuvee. “When she started moving in the last turn and then with the stride that she has; I was not even asking for everything yet, so I felt she was going to run really big.”

Bred and owned by Will Farish, Royal Flag is by Candy Ride out of the Mineshaft mare Sea Gull. In her second start of 2021, the 5-year-old mare gets her first win of the year after finishing second to Bonny South in the Grade 3 Doubledogdare at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., on April 16. With her Shuvee win, the daughter of Candy Ride has five wins in ten lifetime starts for career earnings of $375,520.

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Timing Right for Horologist in Allaire Du Pont

Horologist (Gemologist) aims to collect her sixth career stakes victory in Friday's GIII Allaire du Pont S. at Pimlico. The du Pont returns to its traditional spot on Preakness weekend after being moved to late December because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Transferred to trainer Bill Mott last summer, the New Jersey bred kicked off her tenure with the Hall of Famer with a score in Monmouth's GIII Molly Pitcher S. in July before finishing third in Churchill's GI La Troienne S. in September. Victorious in the Oct. 4 GII Beldame Invitational S., the bay tired to ninth in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland Nov. 7, but rebounded to take Aqueduct's Top Flight Invitational S. Apr. 10.

Horologist can give Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott his second du Pont victory, following Ajinia–1997's champion 3-year-old filly– in 1998.

Brad Cox enters Friday's nine-furlong contest with the pair of Dreamalildreamofu (Commissioner) and Getridofwhatailesu (Ghostzapper). The Elkstone Group's Getridofwhatailesu won the Jan. 23 Pippin S. at Oaklawn before finishing third in the GII Azeri S. won by 2020 GI Kentucky Oaks-winning stablemate Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil). In her latest start, she finished fourth behind the front-running Letruska (Super Saver) with Cox-trained two-time champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) second in the Apr. 17 GI Apple Blossom S.

“She's a stakes-winner and hopefully we can make her a graded-stakes winner,” Cox said. “She's doing great, and probably is going to get a little class relief. No Letruskas or Monomoy Girls in this group.”

Full of Run Racing's Dreamalildreamofu exits a narrow triumph in the eight-furlong Latonia S. over Turfway Park's all-weather surface in March. A winner on all three surfaces, she is making her graded-stakes debut Fridy.

“Dreamalildreamofu is coming off a synthetic race,” Cox said. “She's performed well on three different surfaces–turf, dirt and synthetic. So, we have options with her.”

Robert and Lawana Low's Spice Is Nice (Curlin) is seeking her first career stakes win in the du Pont, a race her trainer Todd Pletcher won with Pool Land (2006), Super Espresso (2011) and Stopchargingmaria (2015).

Second in Gulfstream's GII Davona Dale S. following a 12-length debut triumph early in 2020, the chetsnut won an optional claiming allowance at Belmont later in July before running sixth the following month in the 10-furlong GI Alabama S., in what turned out to be her seasonal finale. She returned to win a 8 1/2-furlong optional claiming allowance at Keeneland Apr. 9, her first start in nearly eight months.

“She had a nice allowance win at Keeneland. The timing is good for this,” Pletcher said. “She's a nice filly that had a good break and came back well from it. So, we're making the step back into the graded stakes ranks and feel good about the way she is doing.”

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Entries Strong For MATCH Series Kickoff At Pimlico

The eighth edition of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Series (MATCH) begins May 14-15 at Pimlico Race Course with large, competitive fields that include more than a few local horses that figure to play a role in the outcome of the four divisions in the 2021 series.

Purses for the four MATCH stakes that are part of Preakness weekend total $650,000. They are the $250,000 Grade 3 Pimlico Special (3-Year-Olds and Up Long—Dirt division) and $150,000 Grade 3 Allaire DuPont (Filly and Mare Long—Dirt division) Friday, May 14, and the $150,000 Maryland Sprint Handicap (3-Year-Olds and Up Sprint—Dirt division) and $100,000 Runhappy Skipat (Filly and Mare Sprint—Dirt division) Saturday, May 15.

MATCH returns to the calendar this year after a one-year cancellation because of COVID-19 restrictions. Though there will be six stakes in each of four divisions this year, 20 of the 24 stakes will be run in Maryland and the other four at Colonial Downs in Virginia.

The Maryland Sprint Handicap at six furlongs has drawn Hillside Equestrian Meadows' Laki, a local favorite and two-time MATCH divisional champion in the 3-Year-Olds and Up Sprint—Dirt division in 2018 and 2019. He has won 11 races—seven of them stakes including the Grade 3 Frank J. DeFrancis Memorial Dash—and in his last start, which produced a win in the Frank Whiteley Stakes at Pimlico, the 8-year-old Maryland-bred gelding by Cuba topped the $800,000 mark in earnings. Twenty-seven of Laki's 33 starts have come in Maryland.

“He came out of his last race really well,” trainer Damon Dilodovico said. “I don't like running him back so quickly—the Whiteley was moved back a week—but everybody is navigating these things. We'll be able to ship up to Pimlico (from Laurel) early and train him there.

“If we could add another graded stakes to his resume that would be awesome. The horse doesn't owe us a thing. We are fans of the MATCH Series and we hoped to have other horses for it this year but things didn't work out.”

Horacio Karamanos, who has ridden Laki in many of his races, will have the mount.

Euro Stable's Lebda, trained by Claudio Gonzalez, finished a half-length behind Laki in the Frank Whiteley and has settled in as a sprinter after having run long as a 3-year-old. Gonzalez, who won a MATCH Series division with the turf sprinter Completed Pass, indicated Lebda may target the local sprint stakes this year.

Entered in the Skipat, also at six furlongs, is Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya, who rattled off five consecutive victories—two in stakes—at Laurel Park before a seventh-place finish in the Grade III Barbara Fritchie Stakes at Laurel in her most recent start in February. Trained by Lacey Gaudet, the 4-year-old Stay Thirsty filly who likes to run on the lead has won five of nine starts and more than $200,000.

Pennsylvania-bred Chub Wagon, owned by Danny Lopez and George Chestnut, enters the Skipat a perfect five-for-five with a total win margin of more than 31 lengths. In her last start April 27 at Parx Racing, where she is based with trainer Guadalupe Preciado, Chub Wagon won the state-restricted Unique Bella Stakes at seven furlongs by 7 1/2 lengths in her first start in stakes company. She has had the lead at every call in all five of her races.

The Allaire DuPont at 1 1/8 miles has attracted Horologist, the New Jersey-bred Horse of the Year for 2020. The multiple graded-stakes winner owned by There's A Chance Stable, Medallion Racing, Abbondanza Racing, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Paradise Farm Corp. and David Staudacher won the Top Flight Invitational at Aqueduct Racetrack in her last start.

Allen Stable's Mrs. Danvers and Sonata Stable's Lucky Stride, second and third, respectively, behind Horologist in New York, will also compete in the Allaire DuPont. Lucky Stride, trained by Mike Trombetta at the Fair Hill Training Center, has done well in Maryland with a second in the Thirty Eight Go Go Stakes last November and a victory in the Nellie Morse Stakes in late February.

“Our intent is to race in the Allaire DuPont and take it from there,” Trombetta said of potential starts in future MATCH Series races. “I think she is the kind of horse that can run in more of these races, so we'll see what happens.”

BB Horses' Landing Zone, second to Lucky Stride in the Nellie Morse and entered in the Allaire DuPont, is one of several horses trainer Gonzalez has entered Preakness weekend that could very well could target MATCH Series events through the course of the year.

In 2020, the 1 3/16-mile Pimlico Special was run in October, and Hillwood Stables' Maryland-bred gelding Cordmaker finished third. In the 2019 Pimlico Special, he rallied from 10th on the final turn and was a fast-closing third. Trainer Rodney Jenkins has again entered the nine-time winner of almost $600,000 in the Special.

Cordmaker in his last start went gate-to-wire in the 1 1/8-mile Harrison Johnson Memorial Stakes at Laurel in mid-March. His last two works at Pimlico at five furlongs have been the fastest of the day. All but three of his 28 starts have come in Maryland.

“His last two works were very good, he looks very good, and he feels very good,” said jockey Victor Carrasco, who was aboard for the Pimlico works and has regularly ridden Cordmaker in his races. “The Pimlico Special is not an easy race, but he's in good form. We're all hoping for the best. I'd like to thank Mr. Jenkins, because this horse is very special to me.”

Owners and trainers will compete for $63,000 in divisional bonuses and the overall MATCH Series champion will net $30,000 in bonuses for its owner and trainer. In addition, the Maryland Horse Breeders Association will pay a $3,000 bonus to the breeder of the top points-earning Maryland-bred and $3,000 for the top points-earning Maryland-sired horse. If the top points-earner is both Maryland-bred and -sired, the breeder would get $6,000.

After Preakness weekend, the next MATCH Series stakes will be held June 13 at Pimlico.

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