Second Chances: Speaker’s Corner

In this continuing series, TDN’s Senior Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar.

How much buzz was there ahead of Speaker’s Corner (c, 2, Street Sense-Tyburn Brook, by Bernardini)’s debut run on closing day at Saratoga?

Considering patient Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott’s two-for-48 record with debuting juvenile runners sprinting in dirt maiden special weights at the Spa the past five seasons (stat courtesy DRF Formulator), the Godolphin homebred was nonetheless hammered down as the 3-5 favorite facing eight rivals on the GI Runhappy Hopeful S. undercard.

The bay’s flashy worktab included a five-furlong move from the gate in :59 4/5 (3/20) Aug. 24 and a four-furlong bullet in :46 (1/109) Aug. 31, respectively.

Not off to the sharpest of beginnings from post two, Speaker’s Corner raced on the inside in some traffic and was urged along by Junior Alvarado in seventh through an opening quarter in :22.39.

Still with plenty to do approaching the quarter pole, he was tipped out off the turn for home and finished with interest down the lane to just grab third, beaten 6 3/4 lengths by good-looking second-time starter Team Merchants (Nyquist).

Speaker’s Corner earned a 59 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.

Speaker’s Corner was produced by an unraced daughter of GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff heroine Round Pond (Awesome Again), a $5.75-million acquisition by Sheikh Mohammed’s operation at the 2007 Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

This same Street Sense over Bernardini cross is also responsible for Godolphin’s unbeaten GISW Maxfield and recent GIII Oklahoma Derby winner Shared Sense.

“As with most first-time starters, he was quite green,” Godolphin President Jimmy Bell said. “Hopefully, he got some needed racing experience and we look forward to seeing him stretch out in the not-too-distant future. He’s shown above average ability throughout most of his works. Time will tell.”

Speaker’s Corner has returned to the worktab since his unveiling with a pair of moves over the Oklahoma training track, including a five-furlong breeze in 1:02.89 (7/9) Sept. 25.

Previous standouts featured in ‘Second Chances’ include: GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby winner Honor A. P. (Honor Code), Skidmore S. winner and Royal Ascot G2 Norfolk S. runner-up Golden Pal (Uncle Mo), MGISW and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Paradise Woods (Union Rags), GSW Backyard Heaven (Tizway), MSW and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Gidu (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), MGISP Spielberg (Union Rags), GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. runner-up Candy Tycoon (Twirling Candy); and Del Mar Juvenile Turf S. third Ambivalent (Constitution).

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Jaw-Dropping Jackie’s Warrior Romps in Runhappy Hopeful

J Kirk and Judy Robison’s Jackie’s Warrior (Maclean’s Music), breathtaking winner of the Aug. 7 GII Saratoga Special S., added another superlative to his resume with a jaw-dropping victory in the GI Runhappy Hopeful S. at Saratoga Monday. Sent off at 9-5, the bay colt was away sharply and almost immediately had a two-length advantage on the field through an opening quarter in :22.56. Pepetu (Dialed In) and even-money favorite Reinvestment Risk (Upstart) were his closest pursuers, but as that duo tried to inch closer, Jackie’s Warrior spurted further clear, covering his next two furlongs in :22.27 for a half up in :44.83. Reinvestment Risk was the only one in with a chance in upper stretch, but Jackie’s Warrior easily shrugged off that foe, getting his next quarter in :23.50 for three-quarters in 1:08.33, before sailing under the wire geared down under a motionless Joel Rosario. He completed the seven furlongs in a stakes-record 1:21.29, bettering the previous mark set by Came Home in 2001 by 0.65 second.

“He broke really fast and I was two lengths in front right away,” Rosario said. “He’s a fast horse. He was able to carry his speed the whole way around. I tried to get off the rail a little bit and it felt like he was comfortable with that. It’s unbelievable the way he ran last time and he was probably better today. He’s a big horse and it looks like he can go longer, too.”

Irad Ortiz, Jr. was aboard runner-up Reinvestment Risk, who was making his second start following a ‘TDN Rising Star’ worthy 7 3/4-length debut win at Saratoga Aug. 1.

“My trip was perfect,” Ortiz said. “He went a little fast, but he kept going. He just got beat by a really nice horse. My horse was only making his second start, so he will improve.”

Jackie’s Warrior was a first-out winner going five furlongs at Churchill Downs, besting subsequent ‘TDN Rising Star’ Therideofalifetime (Candy Ride {Arg}) by 2 1/2 lengths June 19. He had three lengths on that foe while scoring a front-running victory in the Aug. 7 GII Saratoga Special S. last time out, completing that six-furlong race in 1:09.62.

“He’s a very athletic colt that gets over the ground extremely well,” Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen, said of the $95,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase. “Steve picked him out for Mr. Robison and it’s been a good partnership over the years. We’re extremely happy to have him. He just continues to improve. He gets stronger in his works. He does things effortlessly. I’d expect he’d go on to the [Oct. 10 GI] Champagne S. [at Belmont Park] and the Breeders’ Cup from there. But, one race at a time. We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves.”

Pedigree Notes:

Jackie’s Warrior is one of four graded stakes winners for Maclean’s Music, who is also the sire of 2017 GI Preakness S. winner Cloud Computing and 2018 GI Champagne S. winner Complexity. This year, the sire has been represented by GII Best Pal S. third-place finisher Sonic Brees, as well as stakes winner Share the Upside and graded placed Bay Muzik.

John Williams’s J & J Stable claimed Unicorn Girl for $16,000 out of her 54th and final career start at Monmouth Park in July 2013. The 15-year-old mare has a yearling filly by Candy Ride (Arg) and produced a colt by American Pharoah this year. She was bred back to Into Mischief. Her 3-year-old King Theo (More Than Ready), who races for J & J Stable, was fifth in Saturday’s GII American Turf S. at Churchill Downs.

Monday, Saratoga
RUNHAPPY HOPEFUL S.-GI, $250,000, Saratoga, 9-7, 2yo, 7f, 1:21.29, ft.
1–JACKIE’S WARRIOR, 122, c, 2, by Maclean’s Music
1st Dam: Unicorn Girl, by A. P. Five Hundred
2nd Dam: Horah for Bailey, by Doneraile Court
3rd Dam: Horah for the Lady, by Rahy
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($95,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-J. Kirk & Judy
Robison; B-J & J Stables (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Joel
Rosario. $137,500. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $265,064.
2–Reinvestment Risk, 120, c, 2, Upstart–Ridingwiththedevil, by
Candy Ride (Arg). ‘TDN Rising Star’ ($140,000 Ylg ’19 FTKJUL;
$280,000 2yo ’20 OBSMAR). O-Klaravich Stables, Inc.;
B-Aschinger Bloodstock Holdings, LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown.
$50,000. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*.
Click for eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
3–Mutasaabeq, 120, c, 2, Into Mischief–Downside Scenario, by
Scat Daddy. ‘TDN Rising Star’ ($425,000 Wlg ’18 KEENOV).
O-Shadwell Stable; B-BlackRidge Stables LLC (KY); T-Todd A.
Pletcher. $30,000.
Margins: 2 1/4, 10 1/4, 9 1/4. Odds: 1.85, 1.00, 3.85.
Also Ran: Ampersand, Papetu, Nutsie, Fearless Fly. 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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Jackie’s Warrior Meets ‘Rising Star’ Pair in Hopeful

With the obvious caveat that anything can happen with 2-year-olds this early in their development–look no further than Sittin On Go (Brody’s Cause)’s 24-1 upset in Saturday GII Iroquois S.–Monday’s GI Runhappy Hopeful S. looks solidly like a three-horse affair, as arguably the three most impressive dirt juveniles of the meet will clash in the seven-furlong test.

Made the fractional favorite on the morning line at 7-5, J. Kirk and Judy Robison’s Jackie’s Warrior (Maclean’s Music) looks formidable in his attempt for back-to-back Spa graded stakes scores. A first-out winner going five panels over next-out ‘TDN Rising Star’ Therideofalifetime Candy Ride (Arg) June 19 at Churchill, he went to the lead and fought off all comers to triumph by three lengths in a high-quality renewal of the GII Saratoga Special S. Aug. 7. Drawn outside of what little speed there is, the $95,000 Keeneland September grad figures to work out a dream trip as he stretches out an additional furlong.

Klaravich Stables’ Reinvestment Risk (Upstart) is a tick behind at 8-5 and may well go off favored at final odds. Unveiled going a local three-quarters in a loaded looking field of firsters Aug. 1, the $280,000 OBS March buy made short work of his rivals, rocketing away to a 7 3/4-length romp and ‘TDN Rising Star’ honors. Clicking off his final quarter in :23.81 while geared down late, Reinvestment Risk was flattered when third finisher Olympiad (Speightstown) returned to a sharp maiden victory Saturday at the Spa.

Rounding out the big three is another ‘Rising Star’ in Shadwell Stable’s Mutasaabeq (Into Mischief). Backed down to 85 cents on the dollar debuting at 5 1/2 furlongs here Aug. 8, the $425,000 Keeneland November weanling buy pressed the pace widest out and drew clear in the stretch to a 4 1/2-length success.

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Momos Has Ironhorse Thinking Big–And That’s No Joke

In Greek mythology, Momos is “the personification of satire and mockery.”

In horse racing, Momos is a very talented and very fast son of Distorted Humor and Inspeight of Us (Speightstown) who delivered the first ‘wow’ performance in the first 2-year-old maiden of the Saratoga meet July 18 (video), earning TDN Rising Star status.

“I think everybody that buys a horse that wants to win that first maiden special at Saratoga realizes that you’re going to be running against some of the best horses that have been specifically targeted for those races,” said Harlan Malter, the managing partner of Ironhorse Racing Stable, which owns Momos in partnership with Tami Bobo’s Secure Investments.

“No matter how good your horse is training, it’s difficult to expect to win,” he continued. “The reports I got were that the horse is healthy and training great and, something you always like to hear–‘This is a fast horse.’ We were concerned about a possible speed duel or running into a monster, but I was cautiously optimistic. We felt like he was going to run well, but I don’t think anyone goes into those races thinking that you’re going to win. But we were thrilled with the way he did it.”

Turns out Momos was the monster.

Momos was bred by Bobo and the Distorted Humor syndicate and was purchased for $75,000 as a short yearling at the 2019 OBS Winter Mixed Sale. Entered for, but withdrawn from the Fasig-Tipton July sale, the colt was rerouted for the breeze-up sales, where De Meric Sales was tasked with the prep work ahead of this year’s OBS March sale.

Malter has a soft spot for OBS, owing in no small part to the fact that it was at the auction house’s June sale in 2014 that he and his partners acquired a chestnut colt by Kantharos for $43,000. An Indiana-bred, Bucchero took the Ironhorse partnership on the ride of a lifetime, winning back-to-back renewals of the GII Woodford S. at Keeneland leading to consecutive appearances in the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. The over-achieving near-millionaire also represented Ironhorse at Royal Ascot in 2018, finishing a highly creditable fifth in the G1 King’s Stand S.

While in England, Malter–an enormous fan of Cigar–made the acquaintance of Riley Mott, the son of Cigar’s Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who was to be represented on the same opening-day program by Yoshida (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}) in the G1 Queen Anne S. The junior Mott recommended to Malter that he consider bloodstock agent Phil Hager if he was looking for advice on any future purchases. In July 2018, Hager, a one-time employee of the Mott barn, left a position in bloodstock services at Crestwood Farm to launch Taproot Bloodstock. A partnership was struck.

Ultimately, there was a fair bit of synergy between Malter–‘the pedigree guy’–and Hager, who concentrates more on the physical in front of him without regard to the page, where it came to the Distorted Humor colt, who hammered for $180,000, with Taproot signing as agent for IHR.

“What we’ll generally do is not put any horses in his mind,” Malter said of the team’s approach. “He’ll do his list and then we’ll see if there’s overlap and go from there. What was great about this one, which rarely happens, this was basically on the top of our list going into the sale. The horse obviously worked very, very well (:21 flat) and Phil was very happy with the work, specifically–the way he did it, how professional and forward the horse was. Once we had that overlap, it was basically the target of our whole sale. Phil does a tremendous job. Tami Bobo expressed an interest to stay in for part, and it’s been a pleasure to have her as part of the team.”

He added, “When you have a horse that you kind of model everything after–with Bucchero being in my mind’s eye–I like to see very efficient movers and when we saw him in the work, he just did everything the right way. He kind of just drove himself into the ground, low, a very driving and efficient mover. There was no wasted energy. He galloped out extremely well. We were also really happy that he was coming out of the de Meric consignment. We have a relationship with Tristan and Valery de Meric, we know how well they prep them and we knew he’d probably come out ready to go.”

Malter admitted that the colt was at the upper limits of what they wanted to spend, but that circumstances dictated that they be aggressive.

“We felt with what was going on in the world that (a) potentially this was going to be the last time to buy for a little bit; and (b) there also may be a little reluctance to spend as much money at that sale. We did see it as a potential value play, so we were ready to spend a little bit of money. As far as Ironhorse, we try to offer a wide range, from $30,000 up to $200,000, which is about as much as we want to spend. We’re really looking for value. We were looking to try to get a $300,000 horse for $150,000, and we weren’t too far off that. We are going to have to do a little bit of zigging when other people are zagging and this is a little bit of where I blend my other business, being a financial planner, with looking at horses.”

Ironhorse campaigns its horses with Tim Glyshaw–who called the shots on Bucchero’s career–Mike Trombetta and Mott, but Malter was keen on getting a horse to Christophe Clement.

“I met [Clement’s son] Miguel at last year’s OBS sale and that got the wheels in motion. I’ve really enjoyed working with Christophe and Miguel, they make a very strong team,” Malter explained. “When we gave the horse to Christophe, we said, ‘Maybe this is the horse that gets us back to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint down the road,’ but the feedback we got was, ‘This horse can really run on dirt, let’s not worry about grass now.’ Initially the goal on this horse was turf sprinting and I don’t think there are a lot of trainers better at training turf sprinters than Christophe. But, obviously he showed what he could do right now on the dirt.”

With that in mind, Momos is a candidate for the six-furlong GII Saratoga Special S. Aug. 7 and/or the GI Runhappy Hopeful S. over seven furlongs Sept. 7.

As for Bucchero, he has completed his second year covering mares at Pleasant Acres Stallions in Florida. As hands-on as he was during his racing career, Malter has taken an active role in aggressively marketing his stallion to the breeding public.

“I grew up with the Todd Marinovich story, where his father was so heavily involved with managing his whole development and career,” Malter said, referring to the former professional football quarterback. “I often feel like if Bucchero could talk, he’d say, ‘Who is this guy and why is he always around?’ I’ve tried to take the bull by the horns and do the best that I could by this horse. But he’s done all the speaking. It’s been unusual that we’ve had an even bigger second year than we had the first year.”

Malter reports that Bucchero’s first crop numbers a healthy 76 foals.

“There’s really only one thing I was hoping for with the babies–that [Bucchero’s] mind would come through,” he said. “The feedback I am getting from the breeders on a consistent basis is ‘solid, balanced, athletic,’ but they almost always emphasize these horses’ minds. When I hear people describing these foals, it’s like they’re describing Bucchero to me.”

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