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Gotham Winner Morello’s Owners ‘Just A Small Group Of People From Saratoga Running Against The Big Dogs’

Blue Lion Thoroughbreds, Craig Taylor and Diamond T Racing's Morello registered a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure in winning Saturday's Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, the Classic Empire colt stalked and pounced to a 4 1/2-length score in the one-turn mile for sophomores to secure 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points. He currently sits fourth in the Derby standings.

Asmussen, who is still in search of a first Kentucky Derby score, also conditions Winchell Thoroughbreds' Epicenter, who tops the Road to the Kentucky Derby standings with 64 points.

Morello is perfect in three career starts – all at the Big A – beginning with a maiden score sprinting six furlongs in November ahead of a five-length romp in the seven-furlong Jimmy Winkfield on February 6.

The next local stop on the Road to the Kentucky Derby is the nine-furlong Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 9, which offers 100-40-20-10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

Toby Sheets, Asmussen's Belmont-based assistant, said following Saturday's test that the talented chestnut should be able to handle a stretch out in distance.

“I don't see why not. He definitely acts like it,” Sheets said.

Sheets said Morello, who has worked almost exclusively over the Belmont dirt training track dating back to June 2021, has continued to improve with racing experience.

“Since he got here and through his last three races, he's really matured,” Sheets said Sunday. “He looks good this morning. He ate up and everything. I'm happy with him.”

Bred in Kentucky by Robert B. Tillyer and Dr. Chet Blackey, Morello, out of the Congrats mare Stop the Wedding, was purchased for $250,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.

Morello, who should now have enough points to make the “Run for the Roses,” could also be a formidable contender in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

Dave Lyon of Blue Lion Thoroughbreds said following Saturday's score that he will leave that decision in the capable hands of North America's winningest trainer.

“We won't get in the way of the trainers. If they tell us we're going to go a mile, we'll go a mile. There's a nice mile race on that day, too. We'll see what happens,” Lyon said.

Co-owner of Manhattan-based real estate appraisal firm Metropolitan Valuation Services, Lyon was raised in Saratoga Springs, New York. An alumni of Saratoga Springs High School, Blue Lion Thoroughbreds' blue and white silks are a nod to his alma mater.

Lyon said Saturday he was pleased with the trip engineered by jockey Jose Lezcano to topple a formidable field of 10 that included graded-stakes winner Rockefeller, a troubled 10th for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert; along with Dean's List [2nd] and Golden Code [3rd] for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.

“I like that Jose has left a little more in the tank,” Lyon said. “This was a good field. Baffert sent a horse across the country and Pletcher had two horses…we're just a small group of people from Saratoga running against the big dogs and we had the alpha today.”

In addition to Morello, Blue Lion Thoroughbreds is also the co-owner of the Ray Handal-trained Fromanothamutha, who finished seventh in the Gotham, and the impressive 4-year-old Disco Pharoah, who graduated by 19 1/2-lengths in Saturday's opening race.

By American Pharoah and out of the Mineshaft mare Somalia, Disco Pharoah romped at third asking in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight that garnered an 88 Beyer. Disco Pharoah is a half-sibling to multiple graded stakes winner Miss Mo Mentum.

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White Abarrio Zips Quick Half Mile In Preparation For Florida Derby

C2 Stable LLC and La Milagrosa Stable LLC's White Abarrio, who bypassed Saturday's $400,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2), breezed a strong four furlongs in 47.12 seconds Sunday morning at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., in preparation for a scheduled start in the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) April 2.

The 3-year-old son of Race Day's workout, the second since capturing the Feb. 5 Holy Bull (G3) by 4 ½ lengths, was the second-fastest move of 125 recorded at the distance.

“He worked really well second work back. We were looking for a little bit more and we emphasized galloping out because we're looking to build up his stamina a bit more,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “The gallop-out was as good as the work.”

White Abarrio, who won his first two starts before concluding his 2021 campaign with a third-place finish behind Smile Happy in the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2), led throughout the mile Holy Bull, in which Simplification finished second. The Antonio Sano-trained runner-up came back to capture Saturday's Fountain of Youth by 3 ½ lengths.

“I'm a big believer in form lines as far as horses that you beat coming back to win. To see Sano's horse come back and run like that was a big result for us,” Joseph said. “Full credit to Sano for having his horse ready to run like that.”

Joseph said White Abarrio is scheduled to breeze five furlongs for his next two workouts before returning to a half-mile in preparation for the 1 1/8-mile Curlin Florida Derby.

Joseph reported that A.P.'s Secret exited his troubled seventh in the Fountain of Youth in good order.

“I'm going to give him one more chance. I believe in the horse. I truly believe he's that kind of horse,” said Joseph, who mentioned the April 9 Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct as the most likely target for the son of Cupid.

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FOY Winner Simplification Takes Aim on Florida Derby

Tami Bobo's Simplification came out of his dominating triumph in Saturday's $400,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream Park in good order and will be pointed toward the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) April 2 at the Hallandale Beach, Fla. track, trainer Antonio Sano said Sunday.

The 3-year-old son of Not This Time, a front-running winner of the Mucho Macho Man Stakes Jan. 1, finished a courageous second behind highly regarded White Abarrio in the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) Feb. 5 following a troubled start and wide trip, turned in a thoroughly professional off-the-place performance Saturday to win his first graded stakes win in his first race around two turns.

“The bad break last race changed everything. Yesterday, good break, a little problem in traffic, and when the jockey took him outside, the horse ran well,” Sano said. “I am proud of my horse. I'm happy for all the support the people give to me. I'm happy for another chance to win the Kentucky Derby.”

While scoring by 3 ½ lengths in the Fountain of Youth, Simplification earned 50 Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying points while providing Sano with his second Fountain of Youth success. Sano saddled the popular deep-closing Gunnevera for a victory in the tradition-rich stakes in 2017.

“This horse is different. He runs in the front, in the middle or behind,” said Sano, whose Florida-bred trainee is tied for second in the Kentucky Derby point standings with 54 points, 10 fewer than Epicenter. “He's a different horse, more focused in the race.”

Gunnevera went on to finish third in the Florida Derby before turning in a creditable seventh-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, in which he ran into traffic while racing well off the pace before making a solid five-wide run. The son of Dialed In continued to race in graded-stakes company for the remainder of his career while earning more than $5.5 million in purses.

Edge Racing, Medallion Racing and Parkland Thoroughbreds' In Due Time, who rallied late to finish second behind Simplification in the Fountain of Youth, was reported to have come out of his promising effort in good order and could be a Florida Derby candidate, although no decision has been made.

“We're good,” trainer Kelly Breen said Sunday. “He ate up everything last night. Other than his eyes tearing a little bit from getting the dirt kicked in his face, he looks good.”

In Due Time dropped back on the backstretch and raced in traffic before making a strong late run in the stretch to check in 3 ½ lengths behind victorious Simplification a length ahead of 87-1 third-place finisher O Captain.

“I think he was still getting used to getting dirt kicked in his face. When he finally got a clear run in at the eighth pole – it probably was the sixteenth-pole – he got outside and he was running the last part,” Breen said.

Also by Not This Time, In Due Time was coming off an impressive 5 ¾-length optional claiming allowance victory at Gulfstream Feb. 4.

“We always thought that he was a nice horse. We were contemplating going to Tampa, but I wanted to stay here in surroundings he's been accustomed to, and because of his affinity for the track, not that he doesn't like any other track,” Breen said. “Why do anything different? I thought he ran a creditable race against a nice field of horses.”

Breen said a decision won't be made concerning In Due Time's next start until he returns to the training.

“Where we go from here? I'm going to wait for him to get back onto the track and see how he's training,” Breen said. “The Florida Derby is in our backyard, but I won't say anything until I talk to the owners and come up with a game plan.”

OGMA Investments LLC and Jack Hardin's O Captain, who rallied from last to finish third in the Fountain of Youth, is likely to return in the Florida Derby.

“That is the plan,” said Gustavo Delgado Jr., the trainer's assistant and son.

O Captain, a son of Carpe Diem, surprised many bettors, but his connections said they were expecting a strong race from the 87-1 longshot.

“We expected him to run a big race. He was training so good for it,” Delgado Jr. said. “We knew he would like the mile and a sixteenth because of his family.”

O Captain debuted with a front-running 9 ¼-length victory at Gulfstream in August and returned to finish a late-closing third in the six-furlong Limehouse in his most recent start Jan. 1.

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The Week in Review: Shift to New York a Curious Move on Prat’s Part

Flavien Prat is in the right place at the right time in Southern California. Young and gifted, he dominates the circuit in a way no jockey has in years. He picked up his 60th win of the meet Saturday, 25 more than runner-up Juan Hernandez. He won three stakes on the card, giving him 15 for the meet. And he rides for just about all the top barns on the circuit, most notably Bob Baffert.

It's far, far from broke, but Prat is intent on fixing it. On Saturday, he told Jay Privman of the Daily Racing Form that he plans to ride the Keeneland meeting in April and then will move to Belmont Park. Belmont opens Apr. 28.

Prat told Privman that he thought riding in New York would give him as better shot of a winning an Eclipse Award. He was an Eclipse finalist in 2021, but lost out to Joel Rosario.

“It feels like if you want to give yourself a chance to get an Eclipse Award that you need to go to New York,” he said. “That's just the way it is. I never thought I'd leave here, to be honest.”

It's not that Prat isn't good enough to ride in New York. Far from it. The problem for him will be that he will have to find a way to stand out in what is the most crowded jockey colony in the country. There's Jose Ortiz, Irad Ortiz Jr., Luis Saez and Rosario. John Velazquez, who has been riding in California, will be back. Umberto Rispoli has also announced that he, too, will be making the shift from California to New York.

The competition Prat will face in New York will be fierce, hardly the case in California, where the jockey colony has never been weaker. That's a big part of the reason Prat has been so successful in California…he's just a lot better than everyone else. The question is, how much has that played into his dominance there?

Prat will no doubt enjoy some success in New York. The key will be breaking into the top barns. He's won 13 races and 10 stakes for Chad Brown. He's had four winners over the years for Todd Pletcher. He won the 2019 GI Kentucky Derby via disqualification on Country House (Lookin at Lucky) for Bill Mott. That suggests that those trainers may give him a chance, but there's no way he can move into any of the top stables, push aside the regular New York riders and take over.

He will be in the top five in the standings in New York and maybe better. But there is no chance that he will dominate that circuit like he does in California. So is it better to be the fourth leading rider in New York or the No. 1 rider in California? One would think that the answer is the latter. Prat obviously disagrees.

Richard Mandella is Derby Bound

Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella has not started a horse in the Kentucky Derby since 2004. He's had five runners in the Derby over all and none have finished better than fifth. Neither of which is that surprising. Mandella is one of only a few top trainers that does not put a big emphasis on winning the Derby or other 3-year-old stakes. He likes to bring horses along slowly and many of his best runners have been four or older.

But that may be about to change.

Having never raced beyond seven furlongs, Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah) had some questions to answer in Saturday's 1 1/16-miles GII San Felipe S. at Santa Anita. He answered them all and did so with authority, winning by 5 3/4 lengths. He may not be as talented as Life Is Good (Into Mischief), but he wins his races the same way. Forbidden Kingdom rockets out of the gate, runs away from the competition and has more than enough stamina to complete the job.

That may not be so easy to do at 1 1/4 miles, but Mandella is the perfect trainer to get the horse to relax and stretch his speed out another furlong and a half.

A win in the GI Santa Anita Derby and/or the Kentucky Derby would be huge for the sire, American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile). While he's gotten off to a good start as a sire, he still hasn't had that Grade I star dirt horse to put on his resume. With Forbidden Kingdom, that may about to change.

It's Ladies Day at the Hall of Fame

The nominations for the next class of the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame came out last week and five of the six horses nominated were fillies. The sixth was a gelding.

That's something we might all have to get used to. Unless they are a gelding, you can't expect to get more than eight or nine career starts anymore out of a male horse who has the talent to be a Hall of Famer. They'll likely end their careers after their 3-year-old year and go stand at stud, not enough time to put together a career that includes enough starts and wins to be considered Hall of Fame worthy.

But most top fillies race, at least, until they are four. The two no-brainers on the Hall of Fame ballot are Beholder (Henny Hughes) and Tepin (Bernstein). Beholder ran 26 times and raced at six. Tepin raced 23 times and raced at five.

Since Curlin was inducted in 2014, Triple Crown winner American Pharoah is the only modern era, non-gelding male to get into the Hall of Fame. Whether or not a horse with a short campaign can make it into the Hall of Fame will be put to the test when Justify (Scat Daddy) becomes eligible. He raced only six times, but is, of course, a Triple Crown winner. All other Triple Crown winners are in the Hall of Fame. Justify will be eligible in 2024.

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