Nyquist Filly Romps in Spinaway

Vequist (Nyquist) suffered a nose defeat when debuting going 4 1/2 furlongs at Parx, but found no equals when stepped up into the GI Spinaway S. Sunday at Saratoga, pressing a fast pace and romping clear impressively in the stretch to break her maiden in the first Grade I race of the year for juveniles.

Unveiled as a tepid favorite July 29 in Bensalem for owner/breeder Swilcan Stables, the bay chased a wire to wire winner throughout and just missed when taking a final dive at her foe nearing the finish, finishing 8 1/2 lengths clear for of a next-out winner in third.

Off as the narrow fourth choice behind even-money ‘TDN Rising Star’ Beautiful Memories (Hard Spun), Vequist broke a step slowly, but quickly moved up to track frontrunning Esplanade (Daredevil) through a :22.41 quarter. The chalk, who was pulled up in her previous effort, again began to hit the breaks before the three-eighths pole, and Vequist and Esplanade separated themselves from the rest approaching the lane. Taking over at the top of the stretch, Vequist edged clear into the final furlong and poured it on from there, cruising under the line a dominant victress under Luis Saez.

The win was the second raid of a Saratoga Grade I for Thomas McGrath’s Swilcan Stables and trainer Butch Reid, who upset the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. with Poseidon’s Warrior (Speightstown) in 2012.

“It was more about the morning training than it was her first race,” said Reid of running Vequist as a maiden in the Spinaway. “We breezed her out of the gate one time and she was only supposed to go a half-mile but she went in :48 and just kept going 1:01, 1:13 and 1:26. Even though we ran her in that 4 1/2-furlong race, it was more just getting a race under her belt. She was going to be looking for longer things down the road. You don’t expect to win a Grade I with a maiden, but I knew the distance wasn’t a problem.”

“The plan today was to try and follow the speed,” said Saez. “There was a lot of speed in the race so I wanted to break from there and find a good spot. Everything went so well, we broke and we were right there. When we got to the three-eighths I had a lot of horse and when we came to the stretch she took off.”

Pedigree Notes:

Vequist plants the Grade I flag early for her freshman sire (by Uncle Mo), just the eighth horse to win the GI Kentucky Derby while undefeated and first champion 2-year-old to win it since Seattle Slew in 1977. She is the Darley resident’s fifth winner and second black-type winner, following Soaring Free S. hero Gretzky the Great. The first black-type performer out of 2014 GII Black-Eyed Susan S. runner-up Vero Amore, she has a yearling Astern (Aus) half-sister and a weanling half-sister by Daredevil. Vero Amore, a $15,000 purchase by Reid as juvenile in 2013, was bred to Accelerate this spring.

Sunday, Saratoga
SPINAWAY S.-GI, $250,000, Saratoga, 9-6, 2yo, f, 7f, 1:22.29, ft.
1–VEQUIST, 118, f, 2, by Nyquist
                1st Dam: Vero Amore (GSP, $252,255), by Mineshaft
                2nd Dam: Summers Edge, by The Cliff’s Edge
                3rd Dam: Miss Summer Reign, by Summer Squall
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I
   WIN. ($120,000 RNA Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-Gary Barber, Wachtel
Stable & Swilcan Stable LLC; B-Swilcan Stables (KY); T-Robert E.
Reid, Jr.; J-Luis Saez. $137,500. Lifetime Record: 2-1-1-0,
$145,500. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for the  
strong>eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree
.
2–Esplanande, 122, f, 2, by Daredevil
                1st Dam: Southern Silence, by Dixie Union
                2nd Dam: Silence Dogood, by Grand Slam
                3rd Dam: Crystal Vous, by Crystal Water
O-WinStar Farm LLC, Timothy E. Hamm & Michael J. Lewis;
B-Blazing Meadows Farm LLC & WinStar Farm, LLC (OH);
T-Timothy E. Hamm. $50,000.
3–Lady Lilly, 120, f, 2, by Nyquist
                1st Dam: Miss Inclined, by Pulpit
                2nd Dam: Seoul, by Deputy Minister
                3rd Dam: Nomo Robbery, by No Robbery
($280,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-Phoenix Thoroughbred III;
B-Mueller Thoroughbred Stable, Ltd. (KY); T-Steven M.
Asmussen. $30,000.
Margins: 9HF, 1HF, 11 1/4. Odds: 6.60, 6.60, 7.30.
Also Ran: Irish Constitution, Guana Cay, Beautiful Memories.
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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Esplanande Brings Perfect Record Into Sunday’s Grade 1 Spinaway

A field of six juvenile fillies will seek Grade 1 black type in Sunday's 129th running of the Grade 1, $250,000 Spinaway going seven furlongs over the main track at Saratoga Race Course.

The historic event, which is the first Grade 1 event for 2-year-old fillies on the East Coast, has been won by Eclipse Award winning debutantes Before Dawn (1981), Family Style (1985), Meadow Star (1990), Flanders (1994), Golden Attraction (1995) and Countess Diana (1997). In its earlier years, the Spinaway was won by all-time great fillies Miss Woodford (1883), Maskette (1908), Top Flight (1930), Affectionately (1962), Numbered Account (1971), La Prevoyante (1972) and Ruffian (1974).

The prestigious race is named in honor of George Lorillard's talented chestnut who won seven of her nine starts, including stakes wins at the defunct Jerome Park and Sheepshead Bay Park. Successful in her career as a broodmare, Spinaway was the granddam of Tanya, who won her grandmother's namesake race in 1904 before defeating colts in the Belmont Stakes the following year. Other prominent descendants of Spinaway include multiple champion producing stallion Giant's Causeway, prolific broodmare Hasili and European Champion Gleneagles.

Trainer Tim Hamm shipped Dayoutoftheoffice for a victory in the Grade 3 Schuylerville on Opening Day at the Spa and will invade for another stakes engagement for juvenile fillies with Esplanande, who is unbeaten in three starts all against Ohio-breds.

Owned and bred by Hamm's Blazing Meadows Farm and WinStar Farm, the dark bay daughter of Daredevil won her debut by 6 ¼ lengths at Belterra Park in Cincinnati, Ohio before defeating Buckeye State native colts in the Hoover on July 3 at Belterra and the Cleveland Kindergarten on August 8 at Thistledown.

“This horse has dominated state bred competition. She's beaten the boys in Ohio, but she'll get a test this time, and we'll see how she handles the step up in competition,” Hamm said. “She's done nothing wrong and her Beyer and Thoro-Graph numbers put her to where she deserves a chance.”

Because he knows how tough it can be to win at Saratoga, Hamm doesn't bring just any horse to the Spa and said that a horse has to prove themselves worthy of the engagement.

“They have to show that they have some class and can handle themselves under some stress,” Hamm said. “They got to go out there and perform. If they're on their 'A' game, you feel like you have a shot. The horses we're bringing up there have shown that.”

Esplanande will stretch out to seven furlongs for the first time, with her longest race taking place last out at six furlongs.

“It looks like she'll carry her speed seven eighths and I'm not convinced she can't get a mile. She's been a classy filly,” Hamm said.

Hamm boasts three graded stakes victories on his resume, but a Spinaway triumph would give him his first at the Grade 1 level.

“It would be outstanding especially with a homebred filly like that,” Hamm said. “I'm still looking for that first Grade 1. It would be super. We have the mare and Daredevil is a WinStar stallion so it would mean a whole lot to the whole operation.”

Hamm conditions numerous horses for WinStar, including dual stakes winner Alexandria, who also is unbeaten in three starts.

“We have a great relationship with WinStar,” Hamm said. “We have about 20 yearlings which will be 2-year-olds next year with WinStar, and we have about a dozen in training. The relationship started about 10 years ago and it's grown each year. We breed together and we do some training together on certain horses.”

Jockey Junior Alvarado, who piloted Dayoutoftheoffice to victory in the Schuylerville for Hamm, has the mount from post 4.

Trainer Mark Casse will attempt a third triumph in the Spinaway with Beautiful Memories.

A John C Oxley Kentucky homebred, the chestnut daughter of Hard Spun was an emphatic 10-length runaway winner of her debut on May 28 at Churchill Downs before being pulled up in the last out Grade 3 Schuylerville on July 16.

In her first work since being eased, Beautiful Memories drilled through a bullet half-mile in 46.20 seconds on August 5 over the Saratoga main track. She has continued to train forwardly and worked a half-mile in 49.40 on August 28.

Beautiful Memories is out of the stakes-placed Sky Mesa mare Sky Dreamer, who is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Dream Dancing. Her fourth dam is 1999 Champion Older Female Beautiful Pleasure, who was a six-time Grade 1-winner.
Jockey Jose Ortiz was aboard for both of her two starts and will be back aboard from post 5.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen earned his first Grade 1 at the Spa when Cashier's Dream strolled home to a six-length triumph in the 2001 Spinaway. This year, he will send out Phoenix Thoroughbreds' Lady Lilly.

The bay daughter of freshman sire and 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist was a narrow winner on debut going six furlongs over the main track on August 2 at Saratoga.

Bred in Kentucky by Mueller Thoroughbred Stable, Lady Lilly is the fourth progeny out of the Pulpit mare Miss Inclined, whose previous three offspring are all winners. She was bought for $280,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where she was consigned by Elm Tree Farm.

Jockey Joel Rosario will have the return engagement as he seeks an 11th stakes victory this meet from post 3.

Rounding out the field are Irish Constitution [post 1, Dylan Davis], Vequist [post 2, Luis Saez], and Guana Cay [post 6, Irad Ortiz, Jr].

The Spinaway is slated as Race 9 on Sunday's 12-race program, which offers a first post of 12:45 p.m. Eastern. Saratoga Live will present daily television coverage of the 40-day summer meet on FOX Sports and MSG Networks. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

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