Whitmore spent much of 2019 chasing the now-retired Mitole, the eventual Breeders' Cup Sprint winner and champion male sprinter for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.
Tag: Racing
‘He Has It All’: Volatile Too Quick For Alfred G. Vanderbilt Rivals
Volatile extended an impressive start to his 4-year-old campaign, staying undefeated in 2020 after going to the front and drawing away from the four-horse field in the stretch for a 1 1/4-length win in Saturday's Grade 1, $250,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Owned by Three Chimneys Farm and Phoenix Thoroughbreds III, Volatile started his 2020 season with a 7 ½-length allowance score in April at Oaklawn before dominating in his first stakes appearance with an eight-length triumph at Churchill Downs in the Aristides on June 6 that netted a 112 Beyer Speed Figure.
Whitmore, the 4-1 second choice, broke through the gate before the start of the race but was quickly pulled up by jockey Joel Rosario. Lexitonian, the longest shot on the board, was subsequently scratched at the gate, and the four-horse field was backed out and then reloaded.
Volatile, who Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen moved up in class, wasn't fazed by the slight delay, going an easy quarter-mile in 23.46 seconds and the half in 46.67 on the fast main track.
Volatile set the pace and kicked on when straightened for home by jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr., repelling Whitmore's inside bid near the top of the stretch before completing six furlongs in a final time of 1:09.61.
The Violence colt improved to 3-for-3 this year and is 5-1-0 in six career starts – all at six furlongs. An $850,000 purchase at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, he has won four straight starts and has earned winner's circle trips at four different racetracks.
“He was really on his toes today,” said Santana, Jr., who won two on the card. “Steve gave him a lot of time from his last race and he was feeling great. I was really happy with how he was out there. I'm glad we backed off from the gate again. When we came up [to the gate] he relaxed really well and then I was happy because I could see he was ready to go. The gate opened and he put me in the spot that he wanted, and I was happy, too. Turning for home, he kicked really well.”
The 2-5 favorite, Volatile returned $2.80 on a $2 win wager. He improved his career earnings to $341,040 and gave Asmussen his third career Vanderbilt win, joining Justin Phillip in 2013 and Majesticperfection in 2010.
“We saw the first two races from him this year and they were absolutely brilliant,” Asmussen said. “I feel very good about getting those races into him before he met accomplished horses like this. But from an ability or a speed level, he has it all.”
Asmussen said he was confident Volatile could be stretched out at some point. The conditioner said the plan is to target the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint on November 7 at Keeneland.
“We will discuss it, but we obviously feel the Breeders' Cup is where we want to be with him at the of the year and how we get there from here is going to be the plan,” Asmussen said.
Six-time graded stakes-winner Whitmore finished a half-length in front of Mind Control for second. The Ron Moquett trainee, whose previous Saratoga appearance was a victorious 2018 Grade 1 Forego, was making his first start since winning the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint in April at Oaklawn.
“I was in a good position and he was enjoying everything in there,” Rosario said. “I thought for a second we were going to come and get the winner, but he was too good today. I was up close and my horse was there for me. I could see the pace wasn't very fast, but he was traveling hard and very comfortable on the inside there. He's a champ.”
Mind Control, who won the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens at the Spa last year for trainer Gregg Sacco, edged Firenze Fire by a neck for third.
Live racing returns on Saratoga on Sunday with a 10-race card which features the Grade 2, $150,000 Bernard Baruch over the Mellon turf course for 3-year-olds and upward. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
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Two Sixty Gives Casse-Barber Team Third Straight Selene Triumph
Two Sixty dashed to the lead out of the gates and never looked back in the $125,000 Selene Stakes (Grade 3) on Saturday at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.
The victory marks the third straight in the Selene for the trainer-owner combination of Mark Casse and Gary Barber, and second in a row for jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson, who also won last year's edition in rein to Power Gal. For Casse, it was his record-tying (Yonnie Starr) sixth Selene score.
One of three Casse trainees in the field of seven, Two Sixty set out on a front-end mission in the 1 1/16-mile main track stakes event for 3-year-old fillies, posting splits of :24.12, :48.81 and 1:13.36 en route to the three-quarter-length triumph. The final time was 1:45.01.
Saratoga Vision, the longest shot on the board at 84-1, slipped between horses and found a seam towards the rail to close for second-place honors just ahead of the favored Queen's Plate eligibles Owlette and Merveilleux.
“It was clear on paper that Owlette was going to be pace, but they took the blinkers off. So right off the hop, I wanted to get away and set myself at the front with conviction and that's what happened,” said Wilson. “As we eased into the backstretch, I took a little bit of a hold of her. I glanced between my legs and saw that I had a length or so of daylight that I could ease back and have her take a breather. She pricked her ears as we came around the three-quarter pole top of the backstretch and it was great. And then I just waited to hear them… waited to hear them… waited to hear them… waited to hear them… She dug hard, she ran fast and she held them off.”
Two Sixty returned $21.20 to win for the 9-1 upset.
“It's Mark Casse, Gary Barber, you can't go wrong,” said Wilson of picking up the winning mount. “Mark is a fantastic trainer and he puts these horses in races and they can win. I followed instructions. We went with the flow of that. She ran a bang of a race at Gulfstream before she went in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile [ninth]. She went to the lead, set some solid fractions and held them off in hand. She had to work a little harder today, but that's kind of the way it panned out for us.”
Bred in Florida by Shade Tree Thoroughbreds Inc., the Uncaptured–Jim's Lonesa filly entered the Selene off a fourth-place finish in the six-furlong Star Shoot Stakes during her Woodbine debut on June 13. The win was her second in five starts this year, having also captured the Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in January. Two Sixty now boasts a record of 4-1-1 from 11 starts lifetime and is closing in on the $500,000 mark in career earnings.
Casse stablemates Diamond Sparkles and American Tap finished fifth and seventh, respectively, with Livin in the Six sixth.
Live Thoroughbred racing continues, without spectators, on Sunday at Woodbine Racetrack featuring the Grade 3 Seagram Cup. Post time for the first race is 1 p.m.
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Starship Jubilee Defeats Sistercharlie In Ballston Spa Battle Of Champions
Blue Heaven Farm's reigning Canadian Horse of the Year Starship Jubilee maintained her winning form, denying 2018 Champion Turf Female Sistercharlie a triumph off a layoff in the 32nd running of the Grade 2, $200,000 Ballston Spa going 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf course on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Trained by Kevin Attard, the 7-year-old bay mare was never off the board in her last 11 starts, carrying a three-race win streak into the Ballston Spa after capturing the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf on January 18, the Grade 3 Suwannee River on February 8 (both at Gulfstream Park) and the Grade 2 Hillsborough on March 7 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Starship Jubilee broke awkwardly out of the gate under Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano from post 5 and appeared a bit rank passing the grandstand while second to the outside of Call Me Love.
“The horse broke sideways and my [right] foot hit the door,” Castellano said. “It was painful. With the pain, I tried to rate the horse and I think I grabbed a little too much. It looked like the horse was keen, but she wasn't.”
Heading into the first turn, North Broadway controlled the pace leading by 5 ½ lengths through an opening quarter mile in 24.29 seconds and extended her advantage to 10 lengths through a half in 48.18 over a firm turf course.
Starship Jubilee settled in third, just a length ahead of seven-time Grade 1-winning champion Sistercharlie. Approaching the far turn, Starship Jubilee was in an all-out drive under Castellano and took command from North Broadway at the top of the stretch with Call Me Love to her inside in second. The two battled through the final furlong with Sistercharlie flattening in third, but Starship Jubilee came out on top in a final time of 1:41.76, defeating Call Me Love by a neck. Sistercharlie finished another 1 ¼ lengths in third.
Bramble Queen and North Broadway rounded out the order of finish. Main track only entrant Another Broad was scratched.
Starship Jubilee finished third in last year's Ballston Spa beaten a half-length to Significant Form and followed up with graded stakes victories at Woodbine in the Grade 2 Canadian and Grade 1 E.P. Taylor.
Castellano has piloted her to four of her stakes wins.
“I had to fight her a little bit. She's such a great horse; to beat Sistercharlie, she's one of the best fillies in the country,” said Castellano, who previously guided Dacita (2015) and Salve Germania (2009) to Ballston Spa victories. “I think we were in the right time and the right place to beat her today. I give all the credit to my horse.
“Finally, I decided to be a little more patient and relax the horse. The way the race developed was phenomenal,” Castellano continued. “I like the way she did it. We had to take on a number one horse in the country like Sistercharlie. I think it was the right time today and the right place to beat her, not to take anything from my horse. I'm very satisfied with the way she did it today.”
Attard watched the Ballston Spa from his home base at Woodbine in Ontario and was unable to attend Saturday's race to do restrictions concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I thought Castellano rode her perfectly,” Attard said. “[North Broadway] opened up and did the job they intended her to do and set the pace up for Sistercharlie. Going into the turn, Sistercharlie was flanking us the whole way and had dead aim on us. Coming around the turn to the quarter pole, I could see Johnny V start to go to work and she didn't look like she was picking up the bit yet and I thought if we could just stay ahead of her, at this point, we might be able to get the advantage. The favorite didn't kick in and the one horse [Call Me Love] kept battling back. It looked like we were safe and home, but the one wouldn't lay down and made it a good fight to the finish.”
Starship Jubilee was saddled by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey.
“Shug and his crew did an incredible job helping me out,” Attard said. “Considering the situation with COVID this year, it was hard not to be able to send somebody with your own horse. But I was in great hands and that made the whole experience easier to handle. I'm looking forward to getting her home and evaluating what to do next.”
Unbeaten in four starts this year, Starship Jubilee, who returned $8.20 for a $2 win bet, enhanced her record to 36-18-5-while scoring an eighth graded stakes victory in the Ballston Spa and increased her lifetime earnings to $1,608,667. She was claimed for a frugal $16,000 in January 2017.
“I kept saying to the TV, 'give me a little more, mama,' and she did. She pinned her ears back and kept that horse at bay,” Attard said. “She's just a special horse. She's 7 and a lot of horses as they get older lose a step or two, but arguably, this horse has gotten better as she's gotten older. She has the will and desire to win and I'll probably never come across another horse as good as her.”
Bred in Florida by William P. Sorren, Starship Jubilee is by Indy Wind and is out of the unraced Forest Wildcat broodmare Perfectly Wild, whose dam was four-time graded stakes winner Perfect Arc.
Live racing returns on Sunday with a 10-race card which features the Grade 2, $150,000 Bernard Baruch over the Mellon turf course for 3-year-olds and upward. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
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