2nd-Gulfstream, $70,000, Msw, 1-27, 3yo, 7f, 1:21.96, ft, 1 3/4 lengths.
SPEAK EASY (c, 3, Constitution–Fun {GISP, $128,729}, by Harlan's Holiday), an easy-in-the-market 83-10 from a 4-1 morning line, outfought the heavily favored fellow firster Victory Avenue (Arrogate) to open his account at first asking before the clock struck noon on Pegasus Day Saturday at Gulfstream Park. The chalk, a $375,000 OBS June purchase who was bet down to 3-2 from a 5-1 morning line in the same maiden won last year by Mage (Good Magic) for the same connections, showed good early foot and led what appeared to be a well-bred group onto the track proper, but Irad Ortiz, Jr. asked Speak Easy for some speed and took the sit just off that one's flank down the backstretch. Matching motors through an opening quarter in :22.64 and a half in :44.61, the duo hit the quarter pole more or less on even terms, but it was clear that Speak Easy was going the better of the two into the stretch. Victory Avenue did not go down without a fight, but Speak Easy proved easily best in the finish, scoring by 1 3/4 lengths. The Frankie Dettori-ridden Big City (City of Light) finished a 3 3/4 lengths behind the top pair, while $925,000 KEESEP yearling Corporate Power (Curlin) got home well for fourth and galloped out past his rivals around the turn. “This colt had been training very well,” said winning trainer Todd Pletcher. “Like always, a little concerned when you draw the one-hole going seven-eighths, but he was able to work out a really good trip. He broke alertly and was able to move outside the favorite. They were rolling right along.” WinStar acquired Speak Easy's dam for $400,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton tlineNovember Sale a little more than a year after she finished a strong third in the GI Darley Alcibiades S. Fun, who counts the Grade II-winning juvenile filly Ninth Inning (Meadowlake) as her second dam, is also the dam of a 2-year-old Improbable filly, a yearling colt by Twirling Candy and is due to Jack Christopher this season. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $42,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Siena Farm LLC & WinStar Farm LLC; B-WinStar Farm LLC (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher.
CONSTITUTION's 3YO colt Speak Easy impresses on debut at @GulfstreamPark! Congrats to our partner @SienaFarmKY #WinStarBred #FoundationfortheFuture pic.twitter.com/UkafA883eW
— WinStar Farm (@WinStarFarm) January 27, 2024
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