Scat Daddy Colt Shows Promise at Golden Gate

Anothertwistafate (Scat Daddy) may have disappointed in his first racetrack appearance at Santa Anita last month, but the juvenile made amends with an effortless four-length maiden victory at his home base of Golden Gate Fields Sunday.

“I was actually relieved,” trainer Blaine Wright said of the win Monday. “He didn't show a whole lot the first time we ran him, but that was probably my fault. Yesterday, he showed us the kind of horse we thought he was all along.”

Bidding on behalf of Canadian owner Peter Redekop, bloodstock agent Alistair Roden purchased Anothertwistafate from the Wavertree Stables consignment for $360,000 at this year's OBS June Sale. The colt, who worked a furlong in :10 1/5  was the fourth-highest priced offering at the auction and went through the OBS sales ring just seven days after Justify, another son of Scat Daddy, sealed his Triple Crown championship in the GI Belmont S.

Anothertwistafate trained at Wright's Golden Gate base before shipping south for his six-furlong debut at Santa Anita where he was ninth, beaten 15 lengths, Nov. 3.

“I probably never should have sprinted him,” Wright said. “Obviously, for us training at Golden Gate and taking him to Santa Anita, he took dirt in his face for the first time. Training on the synthetic, we don't get any kickback. And he got a little green down the backside on my rider and kind of backed away from it. The only encouraging thing that we saw was, once he got clear in the lane, he did start making a move. The chart didn't do him much justice on the race, but he did finish up pretty good and galloped out strong. I just chalk it up to trainer error. I probably should have run him a week before going a mile on the turf. He's always shown he's more of a stayer than a sprinter. Maybe in the end it will end up being a good thing getting some race experience.”

Stretched out to 1 1/16 miles and back on his home track, Anothertwistafate was never challenged in a wire-to-wire victory (video) Sunday.

“He galloped the whole way other than the last sixteenth of a mile,” Wright said. “He got just a touch green before that and he kind of veered in to the rail and Juan [Hernandez] straightened him out. Then from the sixteenth to the wire was the only time he really pushed on him. He never hit him with the stick. I think he really galloped until then.”

Bred by Bryant Prentice's Pursuit of Success, Anothertwistafate is out of Imprecation (First Defence). Out of Media Nox (GB) (Lycius), the mare is a half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Nebraska Tornado (Storm Cat) and graded winner Mirabilis (Lear Fan). While the colt's pedigree might indicate his future is on the grass, Wright thinks his charge is versatile enough to perform on any surface.

“We probably will try the turf with him at some point,” Wright said. “But I don't think surface is going to be an issue for this horse. He trains like gangbusters on the synthetic. He's bred for turf. He's been on dirt for the training sales and at Santa Anita. He got over the dirt well, he just didn't handle it in the race real well. But I think going a route of ground, he's got natural speed and he won't be behind a :21 and change pace going a route on the dirt.”

Wright said he was keeping all options on the table for Anothertwistafate's next start.

“We've got some good races at home at Golden Gate that will obviously be on our radar,” Wright said. “Most of the time those guys don't come north to run on the synthetic track, so sometimes you can dodge the big guys in those races. We're not going to be in a rush to jump back in with the wild boys real quick. We'll just see how our horse comes out and trains good and see what happens. So there is no definite race picked out yet. The first-condition allowances are tough to get to fill in Northern California and we would probably entertain a first-condition allowance or a minor stakes on the turf at Santa Anita should that come up. But honestly, I haven't opened the condition book to even look at anything yet.”

Wright, leading trainer at this year's Emerald Downs race meet, annexed a pair of Southern California graded races with Alert Bay (City Zip). The dark bay gelding carried Redekop's colors to victory in the 2014 GII Mathis Brothers Mile and 2015 GII City of Hope Mile S. and was recently third in the Lure S. in Arcadia.

Wright is hoping Anothertwistafate is able to follow in that veteran's footsteps.

“We've got our fingers crossed that he has a bright future,” Wright said of Anothertwistafate. “Hopefully we have another one that can take us down south.”