Dynamic One Outlasts First Captain in Suburban Thriller

In a stretch-long battle reminiscent of the 2019 GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, in which the Todd Pletcher-trained Vino Rosso (Curlin) was controversially taken down for interfering with the Shug McGaughey-conditioned Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}), the former's Dynamic One (Union Rags) outslugged McGaughey's 'TDN Rising Star' First Captain (Curlin) to eke out the victory in Saturday's GII Suburban S. at Belmont Park.

The rail-drawn Untreated (Nyquist) hit the ground running and enjoyed an easy time of things up front, as defending champion Max Player (Honor Code) applied only token pressure. First Captain punched the breeze out wide, while Dynamic One was guided down to the inside by Irad Ortiz, Jr. for the long run down the backstretch.

Untreated still had things very much his own way racing into the final half-mile, but First Captain was given his cue about three furlongs from home, with Dynamic One following that move and poised to strike. The favorite was steered out deepest into the lane and appeared to be ready to blow the race apart in upper stretch, but First Captain refused to lie down while racing tightly between rivals and the duo raced in near lockstep through the final stages, with Dynamic One prevailing by a short head. Untreated boxed on gamely for third to complete a 1-3 for the stable.

“He's getting better. His mind is much better,” the winning jockey commented. “He's starting to figure out the game and he's changed a lot. He…switched up [leads] when I wanted to and he let me do my thing. Then he turned it on when I wanted to.”

Pletcher indicated that Dynamic One would make his next start in the Jockey Club Gold Cup–a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic–on closing weekend at Saratoga Sept. 3.

Outnodded for the victory in last year's GII Wood Memorial by barnmate Bourbonic (Bernardini), Dynamic One was well-beaten in the GI Kentucky Derby, but atoned with a defeat of Miles D (Curlin) and First Captain in the July 30 restricted Curlin S. at Saratoga. Rested off a seventh in the GI Runhappy Travers S. the next month, the $725,000 Keeneland September graduate was third to the in-form Scalding (Nyquist) in Tampa's GIII Challenger S. Mar. 12 and runner-up to the same foe in the GII Ben Ali S. at Keeneland Apr. 23 and was exiting a smart success in the June 4 Blame S. at Churchill.

Pedigree Notes:

Dynamic One is the 15th graded winner for his Lane's End-based stallion, whose finest hour as a racehorse came in the 2012 GI Belmont S. And he becomes yet another 2022 graded-stakes winner descending from a Phipps female family, as laid out by Sid Fernando in his July 6 Taking Stock column.

Dynamic One is the final Phipps-bred from his unplaced dam, a daughter of the Phippses 2002 champion 2-year-old filly Storm Flag Flying, who was also responsible for MGSP turfer Revved Up (Candy Ride {Arg}) and the dam of the Grade III-winning 'TDN Rising Star' Jouster (Noble Mission {GB}), who added to her resume with a victory for Pletcher in the July 3 Perfect Sting S. over the local grass course.

Third dam My Flag was unlucky not to win an Eclipse statuette of her own, given her thrilling victory in the 1995 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Big Sandy, Grade I tallies at three in the GI Ashland S., GI CCA Oaks and GI Gazelle H. and a third-place effort in that year's GI Belmont S. My Flag, a daughter of undefeated legend Personal Ensign (Private Account), was a half-sister to JCGC winner Miner's Mark and fellow GISW Traditionally and her daughter Sound the Trumpets (Bernardini) produced the aforementioned Miles D.

Beat the Drums was purchased by Riverbend Farm for $400,000 in foal to Honor Code at the 2018 Keeneland November Sale and produced the colt Videri, a $260,000 KEESEP purchase who remains unraced for Centennial Farms. She is also the dam of a yearling Ghostzapper colt and a filly foal by Street Sense.

Saturday, Belmont Park
SUBURBAN S.-GII, $388,000, Belmont, 7-9, 4yo/up, 1 1/4m, 2:01.26, ft.
1–DYNAMIC ONE, 118, c, 4, by Union Rags
                1st Dam: Beat the Drums, by Smart Strike
                2nd Dam: Storm Flag Flying, by Storm Cat
                3rd Dam: My Flag, by Easy Goer
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($725,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP).
O-Repole Stable, Phipps Stable & St Elias Stable; B-Phipps
Stable (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher; J-Irad Ortiz Jr. $220,000.
Lifetime Record: 12-4-3-1, $699,950. Werk Nick Rating: A+++
*Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–First Captain, 120, c, 4, Curlin–America, by A.P. Indy.
($1,500,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). 'TDN Rising Star'. O-West Point
Thoroughbreds, Siena Farm LLC, Bobby Flay & Woodford
Racing LLC; B-B Flay Thoroughbreds (KY); T-Claude R
McGaughey III. $80,000.
3–Untreated, 118, c, 4, Nyquist–Fully Living, by Unbridled's
Song. ($550,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP; $300,000 3yo '21 KEEJAN).
O-Team Valor International LLC; B-Ashview Farm & Old Oak
Farm (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher. $48,000.
Margins: NO, 3/4, 7 3/4. Odds: 0.90, 1.90, 5.60.
Also Ran: Max Player, Forewarned.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Deep Bunch Set for Mineshaft

Even with local heavyweights Mandaloun (Into Mischief) and Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) awaiting the $20-million Saudi Cup, there will still be plenty of talent on display in a loaded renewal of Saturday's GIII Mineshaft S. at Fair Grounds.

Miles D (Curlin), third at 18-1 in the GI Runhappy Travers S. last summer, closed out his sophomore campaign with a pair of wins, led by a promising decision in Aqueduct's 1 1/8-mile Discovery S. last time Nov. 27. The runner-up that day Speaker's Corner (Street Sense) resurfaced with a razor sharp win in the GIII Fred W. Hooper S. Jan. 29. Miles D completed his preparations for the Mineshaft with a four-furlong move in :48 3/5 (2/41) at Payson Park Feb. 12.

“This horse has done well,” trainer Chad Brown said. “He ran late in the year over at Aqueduct and put up a very nice win against a very talented horse [Speaker's Corner]. He's wintered well and now it's time to get his 4-year old season started. The race came up deeper than I thought it would. He's going to really have to fire off the layoff to beat these horses.”

Olympiad (Speightstown) looks primed for a career best following an eye-catching 7 1/4-length optional claiming victory for Hall of Famer Bill Mott in his two-turn debut at Gulfstream Jan. 15. The 3-1 Mineshaft morning-line favorite was previously a troubled fourth while making his stakes debut in a salty GI Cigar Mile H. Dec. 4.

Sidelined following a well-beaten eighth in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. Apr. 3, Untreated (Nyquist) has been perfect since returning to action, pairing up strong wins going a one-turn mile at Aqueduct Nov. 19 and Dec. 31, respectively.

Last term's GI Kentucky Derby fifth-place finisher and GIII Matt Winn S. runner-up O Besos (Orb) brings a three-for-five record at Fair Grounds to the table, including a narrow win off the bench in an optional claimer Jan. 2.

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This Side Up: Still Amending the Derby Agenda

We should have known better. The moment we deceived ourselves that we had a crossroads of perfect symmetry, with four standout colts converging inexorably on the first Saturday in May, one promptly limped off the trail and then last weekend another was beaten at odds-on. Nobody, then, will be making any assumptions when the other two complete their GI Kentucky Derby preparations, Concert Tour (Street Sense) in the GI Arkansas Derby next week and Essential Quality (Tapit) as the geographical and narrative pivot of three rehearsals staged coast to coast Saturday.

That said, the juvenile champion gets a home game, round a circuit where he has already won two Grade Is. It will be on the margins of East and West, then, that we seem more likely to see a breakout after the manner of Known Agenda (Curlin) last week. Not that anyone in the Greatest Honour (Tapit) camp is too downbeat after he had to settle for third behind that old rival in the GI Florida Derby. I was heartened by the fidelity of colleague T.D. Thornton to Greatest Honour, who retained the No. 1 spot in his Derby Top 12 this week. Because these adolescent horses seldom crown a curve of relentless improvement under the Twin Spires: very often, they will need to have soaked up some adversity on the way, to have absorbed a tough lesson or two before regrouping. Greatest Honour has been on the punchbag all winter and was entitled to drop a glove this once, especially with such a messy trip. We know that his trainer will always have been working back from one date, and one date only.

With that date now looming so large, however, there's a kind of exquisite tension for all these horsemen, trying to achieve an equilibrium between their own restraint, and the fitness and seasoning of their charges. Remember that's exactly what they do every day, with horses at every level. It's just that the whole process is so much more visible here, because of the extremity of the test and the depth of the associated lore.

Many of us profess a sentimental attachment to the old school, with an emphasis on grounding, but modern trainers make their own rules. Obviously last year's race was an outlier, its postponement as ruinous to other horses as it was helpful to the raw Authentic (Into Mischief). But in 2018 we had a Triple Crown winner unraced before February 18; and the following year the first past the post had started off in midwinter under a $16,000 tag, and his works might have been as usefully clocked with a sundial as a stopwatch.

Medina Spirit has only been beaten by Life Is Good | Benoit

Bob Baffert's mastery of the definitive challenge of his calling now puts him within reach of a seventh Derby, and an outright record, even after losing the services of Life Is Good (Into Mischief). In that colt's lamentable absence from the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby, we have a twist in the astonishing tale of Medina Spirit (Protonico), the $1,000 short yearling who somehow found his way into the most lavishly stocked barn in the land. But nothing should surprise us with the genius of his trainer. Remember that Medina Spirit, having been pinhooked to a giddy $35,000, was actually twice as expensive as Real Quiet (Quiet American)!

He would be unbeaten but for Life Is Good and he's been working the house down since a minor throat procedure. Baffert plus Medina Spirit is like Goliath teaming up with David, but this race does offer romantics the option of Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}), bred by Hall of Famer Ron McAnally.

Undefeated Rock Your World switches to dirt | Benoit

You imagine John Sadler has not been short of humorous counsel on the backside, especially as the veteran McAnally, who nowadays supervises just with a handful of animals, managed a graded stakes placing for Rock Your World's older sister She's Our Charm during the winter. McAnally trained both the parents, namely Candy Ride (Arg) and dual Grade I-placed juvenile Charm the Maker (Empire Maker); and actually McAnally and wife Deborah bred the first three dams. But Sadler is certainly rewriting Derby rules with this colt, switching from turf after teaching him about dirt with some pretty heavy duty drills.

The last four runnings have been divided between Baffert and John Shirreffs, who intriguingly perseveres with Parnelli (Quality Road) as though he has more ability than we've been seeing of late. Recent works suggest that the blinkers are helping, much as they did Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) when Parnelli ran the GII Louisiana Derby winner to a neck in the fall.

Interesting to see a Californian shipper taking on Essential Quality, in Rombauer (Twirling Candy), though the most feasible GII Toyota Blue Grass S. wildcard is surely Known Agenda's raw but devastating barnmate Untreated (Nyquist). In the GII Wood Memorial (presented by Resorts World Casino), meanwhile, a similarly late play from Prevalance (Medaglia d'Oro) will help Godolphin decide whether he's progressing fast enough to join their champion in Louisville. If not, then they will hope that at least Risk Taking (Medaglia d'Oro) can go forward on behalf of their big stallion, who joins Tapit and Curlin in craving the Derby as a seal on all their other success.

A playful Weyburn last month at Belmont | Susie Raisher

Pioneerof the Nile beat those big hitters to that distinction before his premature loss, which would be felt all the more keenly if Weyburn were to emerge as a new Derby force from this race. I can definitely see that happening, the Chiefswood homebred being born for this second turn with first three dams by A.P. Indy, Sunday Silence and Nijinsky. The third dam, indeed, is Maplejinsky, dam of Sky Beauty (Blushing Groom {Fr})–so seeing the name Jerkens on the card gives us that warm glow, too. This is an April 21 foal, paradoxically just the kind of thing we like for the Derby, and I love the gutsy way this horse carried his speed through a demanding mile after a lay-off.

So forget that neat and orderly crossroads. On the day itself, we know it will be chaos out there; and the same applies to the four weeks in between. Some engines stalling, others suddenly roaring into life; lights turning red, lights turning green. And with horsemen like Jerkens, Shirreffs and Sadler trying to weave into the traffic, with all their skill and experience, for now it still feels like we don't even know which way round to hold the Derby map.

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Essential Quality Draws Post Four Of Nine For Blue Grass Stakes

Post positions for Saturday's 97th running of the Toyota Blue Grass (G2) and 84th running of the Central Bank Ashland (G1) were drawn today at Keeneland. They will be run Saturday, the second day of Keeneland's 15-day Spring Meet. The season runs April 2-23.

$800,000 Toyota Blue Grass (G2), 3-year-olds, 1 1/8 miles
Weight: 123 lbs. * Race 11 * Post time: 6:35 p.m. ET

Post Horse Trainer Jockey Morning-Line Odds
1 Hidden Stash Vicki Oliver Rafael Bejarano 20-1
2 Untreated Joel Rosario Todd Pletcher 8-1
3 Highly Motivated Javier Castellano Chad Brown 7-2
4 Essential Quality Luis Saez Brad Cox 3-5
5 Rombauer Florent Geroux Michael McCarthy 15-1
6 Leblon Albin Jiminez Paulo Lobo 30-1
7 Hush of a Storm Santiago Gonzalez William Morey 15-1
8 Sittin On Go Corey Lanerie Dale Romans 30-1
9 Keepmeinmind David Cohen Robertino Diodoro 8-1

The Toyota Blue Grass will be the final race of Keeneland's April 3 card with a 6:35 p.m. ET post. NBC Sports Network will televise the race along with the Wood Memorial (G2) Presented by Resorts World Casino from Aqueduct and Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1) from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

$400,000 Central Bank Ashland (G1), 3-year-old fillies, 1 1/16 miles
Weight: 121 lbs. * Race 9 * Post time: 5:30 p.m. 

Post

Horse

Trainer

Jockey

Morning-Line Odds

1

Curlin's Catch

Mark Casse

Chris Landeros

8-1

2

Pass the Champagne

George Weaver

Javier Castellano

4-1

3

Simply Ravishing

Kenny McPeek

Luis Saez

5-2

4

Moon Swag

Brendan Walsh

Adam Beschizza

10-1

5

Malathaat

Todd Pletcher

Joel Rosario

9-5

6

Will's Secret

Dallas Stewart

Jon Court

7-2

Toyota Blue Grass and Central Bank Ashland are classic preps: For 3-year-olds, the Toyota Blue Grass and the Central Bank Ashland are respective major preps for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) on May 1 and Kentucky Oaks (G1) on April 30. The Toyota Blue Grass and Central Bank Ashland both carry 170 qualifying points for the Derby and Oaks on a 100-40-20-10 scale to the first four finishers.

Saturday's card: Eleven races begin at 1:05 p.m.

Saturday graded stakes lineup: Six graded stakes are worth a total of $2.1 million.

Race 6 (3:51 p.m.) $200,000 Appalachian (G2) Presented by Japan Racing Association

Race 7 (4:24 p.m.) $200,000 Commonwealth (G3)

Race 8 (4:57 p.m.) $200,000 Shakertown (G2)

Race 9 (5:30 p.m.) $400,000 Central Bank Ashland (G1)

Race 10 (6:02 p.m.) $300,000 Madison (G1)

Race 11 (6:35 p.m.) $800,000 Toyota Blue Grass (G2)

Wagering: $500,000 Guaranteed All-Stakes Pick Five and $500,000 Guaranteed All-Stakes Pick Four.

How to watch the Spring Meet: TVG's live, on-site coverage begins at 1 p.m. Thanks to the Keeneland Livestream Powered by Kentucky Utilities, fans can watch all races at no charge on Keeneland.com, Keeneland Race Day App, Keeneland Select, Keeneland's Facebook page and Keeneland's YouTube page.

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