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Following Breakthrough Frizette Win, Hamm Looking Forward To First Breeders’ Cup Start

Through the first three races of her career, Dayoutoftheoffice has handled every challenge. Stretched out for a third consecutive time and moving into Grade 1 company, the daughter of Into Mischief won the $250,000 Frizette for juvenile fillies going one mile on Saturday at Belmont Park in Elmont Park, N.Y.

A debut winner going 4 1/2 furlongs in May at Gulfstream Park, trainer and co-owner Timothy Hamm entered her against more challenging competition for her second start, resulting in a six-length triumph in the Grade 3 Schuylerville going six furlongs on July 16 at Saratoga Race Course. Bolstered by that effort, Hamm stretched her out again for her Grade 1 bow Saturday, and Dayoutoftheoffice responded with a two-length score in the Frizette, earning an all-fees paid berth to the Grade 1, $2-million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies on November 6 at Keeneland.

“She came out of the race good and ate everything up and looks good this morning,” said Hamm, who co-owns the horse with Siena Farm, her breeder. “She makes it seem easy. You get so many of these horses that whatever you try, it doesn't seem to work. Then you get these good ones and it makes it seem like a real easy job.”

Ridden by Junior Alvarado, Dayoutoftheoffice completed the Frizette by outkicking the favorite Vequist, earning a personal-best 92 Beyer Speed Figure. After handling increased distance in every start, Hamm said he is confident the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies' 1 1/16-mile distance won't be a major impediment next month.

“Her demeanor is great. She's very calm and very push-button,” Hamm said. “She'll do whatever the rider asks her to in the mornings, so she's easy to train. That's the best thing about her. You never have to worry about her eating. When she trains, she does it exactly the way you want her to do it.

“We always thought she wanted more ground,” he added. “I have all the confidence she can handle the mile and a sixteenth. She's trained like it and she acts like it.”

Hamm will be saddling his first-ever Breeders' Cup contender, adding a milestone to a career that started with his first victory with Rose Colored Lady at River Downs in 1996.

“It's very exciting. This is what we all work for,” Hamm said. “All the trainers work to get in spots like this. Whether you're at the top of the training class or the bottom, everyone's goal is to get horses in great spots. It's special.”

Hamm picked up his first career Grade 1 win and his fourth graded stakes victory overall, joining Joanies Bella [2001 Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Lassie] and Afternoon Stroll [2009 Grade 3 Appalachian]. Dayoutoftheoffice ended an 11-year graded stakes drought with her Schuylerville score and gave Hamm a win in the prestigious Frizette, which has seen 13 previous winners earn the Eclipse Award as Champion 2-Year-Old Filly.

“It's awesome. I always thought I'd win a few Grade 1s and you wonder when the first one would come,” Hamm said. “You do something long enough and stick to it, the odds are it's going to happen. It's great. You get it out of the way and hope you can move on for more.

“The Frizette is one of the major juvenile filly races each year,” he added. “It's one of the targets for these good fillies. In the history of our training, we've had a niche with 2-year-old fillies, so it's fitting it [first Grade 1 win] came that way.”

Hamm said Dayoutoftheoffice will head to Pennsylvania for a short respite before training at Keeneland heading up to the Breeders' Cup.

“She's going to Presque Isle and will spend four days just relaxing and getting a little R and R and we'll go down to Keeneland and train to the Breeders' Cup there,” Hamm said.

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A Grade 1 First For Trainer Hamm As Dayoutoftheoffice Wins Frizette

Dayoutoftheoffice extended her unbeaten streak to three on Saturday at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., with a command performance in Saturday's Grade 1, $250,000 Frizette for 2-year-old fillies, a 'Win and You're In' event for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

The race was a fitting encore to the day's first Grade 1 event for juveniles, the one-mile Champagne, which was won impressively by the undefeated Jackie's Warrior in 1:35.42. Contested just a little more than a half hour later on the fast main track at Belmont, Dayoutoftheoffice completed a mile in the Frizette in 1:35.82, a sparkling final time that could position her to be among the favorites in next month's Juvenile Fillies.

Trained and co-owned by Tim Hamm with Siena Farm, the dark bay daughter of Into Mischief began her career with an easy win in a 4 1/2-furlong dash on May 14 at Gulfstream Park. She made her next start in the Grade 3 Schuylerville at Saratoga Race Course and despite being sent off at 19-1 odds, she exploded to a six-length score in the six-furlong sprint. Having learned their lesson in the Schuylerville, the wagering public made her the second choice in the betting in the Frizette, with runaway Grade 1 Spinaway winner Vequist inheriting the role of odds-on favorite.

Breaking from post 5 under Junior Alvarado, who was aboard Dayoutoftheoffice for her breakthrough victory in the Schuylerville in July, the Siena Farms homebred took up position in second early as stretch-out sprinter Joy's Rocket darted to the front to set the pace. With Vequist tucked in along the inside in third of a tightly packed bunch, Joy's Rocket carved out splits of 22.94 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 46.41 for the half.

Joy's Rocket's early advantage evaporated in a hurry around the far turn, however, as Dayoutoftheoffice made what proved to be the winning move, quickly wresting control of the lead away from the frontrunner and putting daylight between her and the rest of the field as they turned for home through three-quarters in 1:10.98

Vequist, not willing to concede defeat, launched her rally and was in hot pursuit of Dayoutoftheoffice in upper stretch, even appearing at points as if she would overtake the leader, but her chase was ultimately in vain as Dayoutoftheoffice dug in doggedly in the final eighth of a mile and hit the wire first by two lengths.

“When you ride fast horses, it makes it easy for you,” said Alvarado. “I thought it [the pace] was going to be a little more contested and I was going to stalk but I felt like I was in control of the race from where I was. I knew I had the horse in front of me [measured], so I just made sure my filly got into a nice rhythm and at the same time keep everybody where I wanted them to be. It worked out great today. When I asked her turning for home, she responded beautifully.”

Just shy of 3-1, Dayoutoftheoffice returned $7.80 on a $2 win wager and bumped her bankroll over the $200,000 mark through three career starts, all of which have been spaced out by at least a couple months.

“She's a big, scopey filly and I wanted to have some horse for the end of the year,” said Hamm, who earned the first Grade 1 win of his career in the Frizette. “The plan was to have a fresh horse for this time of the year. We wanted to just train her a little lightly and have her fresh for the fall run. Everything went according to plan.

“When you put a plan together that works – the team of Siena Farm and myself and all our assistants – you feel vindicated,” the veteran trainer added. “We all thought this filly was special when she won at 4 1/2 [furlongs] because we knew she would be able to get longer than that. She was able to get the job done today.”

While no match for the winner, Vequist ran a valiant race in defeat and proved her 9 1/2-length demolition of the Spinaway on September 6 at the Spa was no mirage. The dark bay daughter of Nyquist finished second, 10 1/4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Cilla.

“She broke pretty nice and I thought we were in a good spot,” said Luis Saez, rider of Vequist. “When we got to the three eighths, I started asking her a little and when we got to the stretch the winner took off.

“I wish we could have been outside [instead of inside post] so I could have pressed early, but that's racing,” Saez added.

Joy's Rocket, Cantata, and Get On the Bus completed the order of finish in the 71st running of the Frizette. Fifth Risk was scratched.

Live racing resumes Sunday at Belmont Park with a 10-race card highlighted by the 130th running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Futurity, a six-furlong turf sprint offering a “Win and You're In” berth to the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on November 6 at Keeneland. It is one of two turf stakes for juveniles on the 10-race card, with the Grade 3, $100,000 Matron for 2-year-old fillies going six furlongs also on the docket. First post is 12:50 p.m.

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Horologist Upsets Point Of Honor, Dunbar Road In Beldame

Chasing a fast early pace in a field scratched down to just four runners, Horologist moved to the lead at the top of the stretch, then raced to an easy three-length victory over Point of Honor and Dunbar Road as the longest shot in the field in Sunday's Grade 2 Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Point of Honor made a belated bid along the rail to be second, with even-money favorite Dunbar Road, winner of the G2 Delaware Handicap last out, never threatening while third. Letruska, who set fast fractions and led by a wide margin for the first six furlongs, was last.

Ridden by Junior Alvarado, Horologist covered nine furlongs on a fast track in 1:49.01. She paid $16.20 for the victory, her seventh in 19 starts and second stakes win since Bill Mott took over her training earlier this year.

Racing for There's a Chance Stable, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Medallion Racing and Abbondanza Racing, Horologist is a 4-year-old filly by Gemologist bred by Holly Crest Farm in New Jersey, where her three previous stakes victories were recorded at Monmouth Park: the Smarty N Classy Handicap and G3 Monmouth Oaks in 2019 and G3 Molly Pitcher this year in her first start for Mott.

Letruska, coming off a front-running win in the G3 Shuvee at Saratoga on Aug. 30, went to the front early under Kendrick Carmouche, taking a one-length advantage through a quarter mile in :23.10, then opened up by 3 1/2 lengths after a :45.52 half mile. Through six furlongs, timed in 1:09.05, Letruska extended her advantage to seven lengths.

Horologist was her closest pursuer throughout and began to eat into Letruska's lead before turning for home. She took command by 2 1/2 lengths with a furlong to run, the mile in 1:35.62, adding another half length to that margin at the finish.

Mott was winning the Beldame for the third time, having saddled Royal Delta in 2012 and Elate in 2017.

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Gufo Up In Time For Belmont Derby Invitational Victory

Otter Bend Stables Gufo rallied from off the pace to win Saturday's Grade 1, $250,000 Belmont Derby Invitational at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. The victory gave the Christophe Clement-trained 3-year-old son of Declaration of War a fees-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Turf as part of the Challenge Series Win and You're In races for the Nov. 6-7 world championships at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

Gufo raced past No Word and Mo Ready in deep stretch under Junior Alvarado, winning by one length, then had to wait out a stewards inquiry for possible interference at the top of the stretch when drifting out in front of Moon Over Miami.

The 7-5 favorite in the field eight 3-year-olds, Gufo paid $4.90 to win after covering 1 1/4 miles on firm turf in 2:02.25.

No Word held second, with Mo Ready third and Ajourneytofreedom fourth.

Mo Ready worked his way to the front as the fielded rounded the clubhouse turn, getting the opening quarter mile in :24.48 with pressure from the outside by Moon Over Miami.

Those two raced 1-2 down the backstretch, with fractional times of :50.61 for the half mile and 1:15.56 for six furlongs, and were joined by No Word approaching the far turn. Gofu, meanwhile, was saving ground while in the second flight approaching the turn, swung off the rail and took aim at the leaders with two furlongs to go, the mile in 1:39.26.

Mo Ready proved stubborn on the lead, aided by soft fractions, and was finally overtaken by No Word. But Gufo had all the momentum and grabbed the lead inside the final sixteenth of a mile.

“I had to do my homework,” said Alvarado, riding Gufo for the first time. “He's not a hard horse to ride, but it can be a little tricky with him to make sure he doesn't fall too far back or it takes him too long to get home. I kept him between horses; he was paying attention to everything and he was focused. When I turned for home, I knew I had a lot of horse under me.

“I definitely thought it was close. The way he was travelling there, I knew I had plenty of horse to still finish. He was in a nice, nice rhythm the whole way around so I was pretty happy. [Christophe] said, 'You have to ride him turning for home, it takes him a little bit to give you a nice kick'.”

The victory was the fifth in seven starts for Gufo, who had a four-race win streak broken when second to Domestic Spending in the Saratoga Derby Invitational in his last start on Aug. 15.

“He won well,” said Clement. “I thought he had a great trip from Junior [Alvarado] and when he asked him to quicken, he really quickened well in the stretch. He's a good horse. If you look at all his races this year, he's been running well all year round. I know he got beat last time but he actually ran a winning race when you look back at it.”

Clement wouldn't commit to a start in the Breeders' Cup.

“I'm not sure,” the trainer said. “We'll have to check with the owner and see how he comes out of it. There's also the Hollywood Derby [G1 on Nov. 28 at Del Mar] going a mile and an eighth.”

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