Consistency Over Long Haul Stands Out for Top Soph

The Week in Review by T.D. Thornton

For the past two racing seasons, we've seen two top-rated United States 2-year-olds in each year maintain impeccable form for a period of about 12 months, straight through to a deep point in their sophomore campaigns. That's a fairly remarkable occurrence in this day and age.

Tiz the Law (Constitution) broke his maiden at Saratoga on Aug. 8, 2019, then prevailed in the GI Runhappy Travers S. exactly one year later. The compact bay who raced with a relentless swagger lost only once in seven starts during that time frame, racking up other tour-de-force Grade I victories in the Champagne S., Florida Derby, and Belmont S. during a campaign whose Triple Crown scheduling was convoluted by the pandemic.

Outside of missing a few days of training in early March because of a heel bruise, Tiz sailed all the way through to the Sept. 5, 2020, GI Kentucky Derby before getting outpunched in a stretch fight and finishing second. He subsequently was a no-factor sixth in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, which ended up being his final race prior to an unexpected retirement Dec. 30 because of bone bruising.

The charismatic colt's final two subpar races don't at all encapsulate the flair and panache with which he helped carry the sport through a difficult year.

The career arc of 'TDN Rising Star' Essential Quality (Tapit) neatly overlaps with Tiz's meteoric rise and gradual, two-race descent. This assertive, athletic gray broke his maiden on the 2020 Derby Day undercard at Churchill Downs–just hours before Tiz tasted defeat as the odds-on Derby favorite.

Then Essential Quality tore off back-to-back Grade I autumn wins, including a victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile that earned him 2-year-old Eclipse Award championship honors.

Essential Quality, pretty much like Tiz, managed to avoid nagging setbacks during the transition from two to three. He scored smartly in both of his 2021 spring stakes preps before heading undefeated to the Derby, also as the fave.

Despite minor jostling at the break and a wide go into the first turn, he eventually settled into an in-the-clear, stalking stride that was reminiscent of Tiz's own no-excuse clean trip in the Derby. Essential Quality responded gamely when set down and very willingly dug in for a stretch fight. But, like Tiz the Law, he couldn't close the gap despite trying hard, and finished fourth.

Five weeks later, Essential Quality rebounded with a high-torque win in the Belmont S., launching a bold bid half a mile out and sustaining pressure through deep stretch before finally kicking clear a sixteenth from the wire.

The colt he beat, Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), came back to cross the finish wire first in the July 17 GI TVG.com Haskell S. but was DQ'd from the win for interference. Those two colts are clearly at the top of the sophomore pecking order heading into the back half of the season.

Essential Quality hasn't quite hit the one-year mark of sustained excellence the way Tiz the Law did. But he's close on the calendar (331 days) and his seven wins from eight starts resonate not only from a statistical sense, but because of the “how he did it” authority of those victories.

Saturday's GII Jim Dandy S. score at Saratoga by Essential Quality might have been a closer shave than his connections (and the betting public) cared to sweat out at 2-5 odds.

But I'm willing to shrug off that half-length narrow escape over the pesky 9-1 Keepmeinmind (Laoban) based on three factors:

1) Essential Quality wasn't fully cranked, training-wise, for a prep race designed to have him tight for the Aug. 28 Travers.

2) Keepmeinmind's brief seizing of the lead a sixteenth out was more attributable to a momentary focus lapse by the champ, which was evident when Essential Quality instantly flashed back into attack mode to polish off Keepmeinmind.

3) Essential Quality gave up copious real estate while wide around both turns, traveling 6,060 feet over nine furlongs according to Trakus, versus Keepmeinmind's mostly rail-running 6,022 (a difference of 38 feet over the course of the race).

The Jim Dandy victory was the second straight homebred score (and third win overall as an owner) for Godolphin, which won last year with Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper) and in 2012 with Alpha (Bernardini).

The last time a Jim Dandy winner won the Travers was when Alpha finished in a dead-heat for first with Golden Ticket.

First 'Vandy', then Dandy

The Jim Dandy was the second straight graded dirt stakes on Saturday's Saratoga card in which the winner lost the lead in deep stretch then roared back to snatch victory from the proverbial jaws of defeat.

Except Lexitonian (Speightstown)'s win in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. was way at the other end of the pari-mutuel spectrum. The five-year-old Calumet Farm color bearer was 34-1, the longest shot in the field of nine.

Lexitonian was hell-bent for the lead in the six-furlong sprint but appeared pressure-cooked by the quarter pole.

Yet the pursuers who looked certain to swallow him up couldn't seal the deal, and Lexitonian clawed back a half-length win for his first trip to the winner's circle in 14 months.

The win also was the first leg of a dirt-stakes double at Saratoga for homebreds.

In an era in which we lament that horses don't race as frequently or robustly as they once did at the top end of the sport, Calumet homebreds seem to dance every dance, and have accounted for some pricey graded stakes upsets over the last decade.

Prime examples are Oxbow's 15-1 GI Preakness S. win in 2013, Bravazo's 21-1 GII Risen Star S. score in 2018, and Everfast's 29-1 near-miss second in the 2019 Preakness. And just three months ago, we witnessed Bourbonic (Bernardini)'s 72-1 last-to-first thriller in the GII Wood Memorial S.

“I have to give Lexitonian a ton of credit,” trainer Jack Sisterson said. “He ran in the [GI] Met Mile and he was eased. You'd think a horse that was eased and thrown in some clunkers, you'd sit back and think let's drop him down a grade and give him a confidence builder. But I've run him in every Grade I and been hard on him and this is how he responds today. I have to give credit to Lexitonian.”

So which Grade I sprint was best?

Dr. Schivel (Violence) powered home first in a multi-horse photo to win the GI Bing Crosby S. at Del Mar later on Saturday, running his record to 3-for-3 at Del Mar in advance of a presumptive start in the Gi Breeders' Cup Sprint that will be run over that same surface Nov. 6.

The $6.80 win by a neck marked the second straight year that the trainer/jockey tandem of Mark Glatt and Flavien Prat won the Bing Crosby. The colt was one of only two 3-year-olds entered against older rivals.

A fondness for the seaside oval must run in Dr. Schivel's family. His dam, Lil Nugget, was 2-for-2 at Del Mar, with both wins coming during the 2007 campaign against claiming company. The modest offspring she produced via her first seven foalings (three career maidens and four lower-level claiming winners) didn't suggest a multiple Grade I-winning colt like Dr. Schivel was in the pipeline.

Dr. Schivel ran a 90 Beyer Speed Figure, and the two horses hot on his heels at the wire, Eight Rings (Empire Maker) and the favored C Z Rocket (City Zip), both delivered emphatic second- and third-place performances that were otherwise good enough to win.

Back East at the Spa, Lexitonian earned a 102 Beyer (Coincidentally, Lexitonian was second, beaten only a nose in the 2020 version of the Bing Crosby).

The sense from this vantage point is that Dr. Schivel's race featured stronger competition but the weaker speed figure.

Lexitonian's triple-digit Beyer trumps that performance numbers-wise, but the heavy-hitting competition in his race for the most part failed to fire.

Ordinarily I'd rate those two performances more or less as equal based on the above-outlined reasoning.

But because the Breeders' Cup is at Del Mar this year, the longer-term track-familiarity edge goes to the horses who'll be running back out of the Bing Crosby.

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Weekend Lineup Presented By NYRA Bets: Grade 1 Sprinters To Line Up On Both Coasts

A pair of Grade 1 sprints on opposite coasts highlight this Saturday's stakes action, with the G1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt taking place at Saratoga and the G1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar. In addition, juvenile champion and Belmont Stakes winner Essential Quality will return to action in the G2 Jim Dandy Stakes at the Spa, and 2020 Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil will ship west to contest Sunday's G1 Clement Hirsch.

The Vanderbilt features reigning sprint champion Whitmore seeking his first win of his 8-year-old campaign, while Firenze Fire will attempt to turn the tables after finishing third behind Whitmore in last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint. Morning-line favoritism goes to Michevious Alex, the G1-winning sprinter who shortens back up to six furlongs after running third in the Met Mile.

Meanwhile, the Bing Crosby offers a deep field of nine including divisional leader C Z Rocket. After twice defeating Whitmore at Oaklawn Park over the winter, C Z Rocket will race without Lasix for the first time in his career during this “Win and You're In” contest for the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

The New York Racing Association Inc. (NYRA) will host a Cross Country Pick 5 on Saturday featuring action from historic Saratoga Race Course as well as competition from Woodbine Racetrack and Monmouth Park.

Here's a quick snapshot of this weekend's graded stakes schedule (all times Eastern):

Saturday

5:03 p.m. – $350,000 Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. at Saratoga

Champion Whitmore faces eight rivals in this spot, most notably Grade 1 winners Firenze Fire and Mischevious Alex, both of whom are listed at lower odds on the morning line. Special Reserve has been facing lesser company but has won four of his five starts this season, while live longshot Lexitonian ran extremely well to finish second in his last start at six furlongs, in the G1 Churchill Downs Stakes, and returns to the sprint scene after a poor start and sixth-place finish in the Met Mile.

Vanderbilt Entries

5:39 p.m. – $600,000 Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga

Essential Quality has done little wrong thus far in his career, and it would take a monster effort from one of the five rivals in this race to defeat him on Saturday. That said, Masqueparade is an improving sort for the very patient Al Stall, Jr., and Weyburn being entered in this race instead of the Plate Trial (he's Ontario-bred) should say something about what trainer Jimmy Jerkens thinks of his chances. Keepmeinmind would benefit from a hot pace up front, should one develop.

Jim Dandy Entries

6:12 p.m. – $250,000 G2 Bowling Green Stakes at Saratoga

Three sons of English Channel make up three of the top four choices on the morning line in the Bowling Green, a 1 3/8-mile contest over the Saratoga lawn. Channel Maker is the favorite, making his first start since running a big second in Saudi Arabia's Neom Turf Cup and then finishing off the board a month later in Dubai; the Bill Mott trainee, one of three in this race, was third in this race last year and usually seems to hit his best form around the fall. The ever-dangerous Chad Brown enters a pair in Rockemperor and Breakpoint, while the red-hot Mike Maker has New York-bred Cross Border in with a chance.

Bowling Green Entries

9:30 p.m. – $300,000 G1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar

Even if C Z Rocket proves he can run without Lasix, it may not be enough to secure him the victory in this “Win and You're In” contest for the Breeders' Cup Sprint this fall. Eight others are signed on for the six-furlong affair, with a trio from the barn of Mark Glatt including last year's winner, Collusion Illusion. Brickyard Ride will try to steal the race on the front end, while the Glatt-trained Dr. Schivel would seem likeliest to take advantage of a hot early pace.

Bing Crosby Entries

Sunday

5:39 p.m. – $200,0000 G2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga

Restricted to 3-year-olds, the Amsterdam features a rematch between Drain the Clock and Jackie's Warrior, the 1-2 finishers separated by a neck last out in the G1 Woody Stephens. They'll have a sixteenth of a mile less to travel this time, which should give the advantage to the speedy and determined Jackie's Warrior as his Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen approaches Dale Baird's all-time leading trainer record.

Amsterdam Entries

9:00 p.m. – $300,000 G1 Clement Hirsch at Del Mar

Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil ships in from Ellis Park to contest the 1 1/16-mile Hirsch for trainer Brad Cox, chasing the expenses-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Distaff granted to the winner. The regally-bred local divisional leader As Time Goes By, an American Pharoah half-sister to Will Take Charge and Take Charge Indy, will enter off a two-race win streak for trainer Bob Baffert. Venetian Harbor has won a pair of graded stakes races sprinting in the past year, but stretches out here, and Warren's Showtime switches to the dirt after winning the G3 Wilshire last out.

Hirsch Entries

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Mischevious Alex Back Sprinting in Vanderbilt

Undefeated as a sprinter this season, Cash is King and LC Racing's Mischevious Alex (Into Mischief) will turn back to six furlongs after being defeated in the one-mile GI Runhappy Metropolitan H. as a likely favorite in Saturday's GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. at Saratoga.

Proving himself as an exciting sophomore prospect last season with back-to-back open-lengths scores in the GIII Swale S. and GIII Gotham S., but missed the triple Crown and failed to crack the trifecta in his last two starts for John Servis when fourth in the GI Woody Stephens S. and sixth in the GI H. Allen Jerkens S. Transferred to Saffie Joseph and laid up for over five months, the $75,000 Keeneland September bargain came back with three straight dominant victories, culminating with a 5 1/2-length score in the GI Carter H. that earned a field-best 109 Beyer. He was unable to quite stick it out in the Met Mile though, flattening out late to be third after contesting the pace.

Hard-knocking 14-time winner Firenze Fire (Poseidon's Warrior) will also try to rebound after suffering a rare defeat over his favorite track at Belmont. The victor of a remarkable 11 stakes races, he was last of four in last summer's Vanderbilt and again could see them all at the finish in the local GI Forego S., dropping his record to just one win in seven starts lifetime at the Spa. He's picked up three graded stakes trophies since though, all at Belmont, before being narrowly outdueled by Mind Control (Stay Thirsty) in the GII John A. Nerud S. last out July 4.

The ever-popular Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) is back for another bite at the apple after running a strong second in last year's Vanderbilt. Out of the top three in his next two outings, he unleashed a powerful stretch run to upset the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint by 3 1/4 lengths, locking up champion male sprinter honors. He's yet to find the mark in three tries as a 7-year-old, however, running second in the Hot Springs S. and GIII Count Fleet Sprint H. and most recently a close third in the GI Churchill Downs S. May 1.

The 'now' horse may be improving 5-year-old gelding Special Reserve (Midshipman). Haltered by Mike Maker for $40,000 out of an allowance/optional claiming spot Feb. 6 at Oaklawn, the bay has gone three-for-four since, with his only loss coming when second in the GIII Commonwealth S. Apr. 3 at Keeneland. When last seen, he dueled through a jaw-dropping :43.35 half-mile split and kicked away in the final furlong to a 2 3/4-length conquest of the Iowa Sprint S. July 3 at Prairie Meadows.

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‘I Wouldn’t Like It If It Were Easy’: Moquett Enjoys Challenges Of Training Strong-Minded Whitmore

Training the strong-minded reigning Champion Sprinter Whitmore comes with its challenges, but Arkansas-born conditioner Ron Moquett said he wouldn't have it any other way.

“I wouldn't like it if it were easy. It wouldn't mean as much if everything works out if it were easy,” Moquett said. “I think for me, at this stage in my career, it's good to get something that's a little quirky and a little different and show that you can handle those types and then hopefully get some of the easier ones down the road.”

Owned by Moquett in partnership with Robert V. LaPenta and Head of Plains Partners, Whitmore looks to add a third Grade 1 victory to his ledger in Saturday's Grade 1 $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga. The veteran 8-year-old gelding boasts a lifetime record of 41-15-13-4, which include triumphs in the Grade 1 Forego in August 2018 at the Spa as well as the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland.

Whitmore developed a good rapport with some of his previous pilots, with six jockeys having guided the talented veteran to the winner's circle, which include, Jose Ortiz, Irad Ortiz, Jr., Manny Franco, Didiel Osorio and Joe Talamo. Other jockeys of note to have piloted the 8-year-old veteran include Luis Saez, Joel Rosario, and Flavien Prat, as well as Hall of Famers Mike Smith and Victor Espinoza.

“He's quirky, but he's not hard to ride,” Moquett said. “These guys are professionals. When you look at the list of jockeys that have ridden this horse, those are some top riders. I've always said you ride riders for the comfort that they will get done what you want to get done, but it also has to do with the fact they're very sure and confident. If he catches a little glimpse of any thread, he can pick on you, he will pull that thread.”

Through a racing career which dates back to a 7 ¼-length debut win in November 2015 at Churchill Downs, Moquett has been able to spend more time with Whitmore than most trainers can say they've spent with some of their star pupils.

“He still deals with things that aren't easy. He hasn't had a nail in his shoe since he was a 3-year-old. He wears glue-on shoes,” Moquett continued. “He's not the easiest to be around at the gate. He likes to train backwards, he refuses to train by himself. He wants competition or he'll give you the middle finger. We have to soak his feed a certain way before he'll eat it. Everything is a collaboration of figuring out how to get along with him.”

Moquett credits his wife and assistant trainer Laura for being instrumental in coaxing the most from Whitmore.

“Laura is the master of that, and she has the patience of Job, which is probably how we're married,” Moquett said. “Being married to me has trained her to get along with Whitmore.”

Jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr. appears to know Whitmore better than any other jockey, having finished in the money 15 of the 17 times he has been in the irons.

“Sometimes it works like that. Certain riders say, 'Hey we're doing this, let's go,' and Santana does that. They work well together,” Moquett said.

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