Cheyenne Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Mastery (Candy Ride {Arg}) upped his record to three-for-three as he dueled and drew off to a dominant 7 1/4-length victory in Saturday's GI Los Alamitos Futurity. Doug O'Neill pupils Irap (Tiznow) and Dangerfield (Into Mischief) were second and third, respectively.
An overwhelming 1-5 presence, the $425,000 KEESEP yearling broke alertly and showed good natural speed under Mike Smith to trade jabs with sharp debut winner Bobby Abu Dhabi (Macho Uno) through solid splits of :22.37 and :45.65. Irap was going well and caught the eye as they entered the long Los Al lane, and joined the top two while widest in upper stretch. Bobby Abu Dhabi soon retreated, and Irap's hopes were quickly vanquished–Mastery had no trouble finding another gear, and poured it on with surprising ease considering his early exertions, stopping the timer in a sharp 1:41.56.
“You don't know how they are going to do going two turns for the first time until they try it,” noted conditioner Bob Baffert, who was celebrating his third-straight win in this race and a record ninth overall. “Turning for home he hit a bit of a lull and l didn't know if he was going to go on or flatten out. Mike said it was a good thing I put the blinkers back on him because he hit the brakes when he made the lead. The last part he threw it in another gear. I thought we would be up pretty close, but I knew [Bobby Abu Dhabi] was a fast horse and looked fast in the paddock. I was worried when I saw the fractions, but then he looked like he handled it pretty well. He withstood it and kicked on again at the end.”
Saturday, Los Alamitos
LOS ALAMITOS CASH CALL FUTURITY-GI, $300,000, LRC, 12-10, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 1:41.56, ft.
1–&MASTERY, 120, c, 2, by Candy Ride (Arg)
1st Dam: Steady Course, by Old Trieste
2nd Dam: Steady Cat, by Storm Cat
3rd Dam: Hopespringsforever, by Mr. Prospector
'TDN Rising Star' ($425,000 Ylg '15 KEESEP). O-Cheyenne
Stables LLC; B-Stone Farm (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Mike E. Smith.
$180,000. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $271,200. *1/2 to Clear
Sailing (Empire Maker), SW, $128,940. Werk Nick Rating: A++.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.[bullet ad=”bradshaw-randy-shell”][bullet ad=”kbif-g1″]
2–Irap, 120, c, 2, Tiznow–Silken Cat, by Storm Cat. ($140,000
RNA Ylg '15 KEESEP; $300,000 2yo '16 OBSMAR). O-Reddam
Racing LLC; B-Aaron & Marie Jones (KY); T-Doug F. O'Neill.
$60,000.
3–Dangerfield, 120, c, 2, Into Mischief–Amusingly, by Distorted
Humor. ($92,000 Wlg '14 KEENOV; $450,000 Ylg '15 KEESEP).
O-W. C. Racing & Zayat Stables, LLC; B-Joe B Murphy (KY);
T-Doug F. O'Neill. $36,000.[bullet ad=”webb-carroll-another-wctc-grad”][bullet ad=”warrendale-sold-congratulations-to-all-the-connections”][bullet ad=”stgeorge-salesgrad”]
Margins: 7 1/4, 5 3/4, 13 3/4. Odds: 0.20, 23.80, 11.20.
Also Ran: Bobby Abu Dhabi, Show Me Da Lute.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
Mastery's reputation preceded him heading into his Oct. 22 unveiling at Santa Anita, and he glided home a convincing 4 1/4-length graduate at 3-10 that day, earning a 93 Beyer Speed Figure. He shed the blinkers for the seven-panel GIII Bob Hope S. at Del Mar Nov. 19 and got a rider switch from Rafael Bejarano to Mike Smith, but the result was the same–a facile victory at 30 cents on the dollar. Mastery had been backed as the second individual betting choice at 10-1 in the first 2017 Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool completed November 27, and was outfitted with blinkers again Saturday.
“He relaxed great today and I think the key was Bob putting the blinkers back on,” offered Smith. “He started looking around a little when he made the front in the stretch, but after I gave him a reminder he re-broke and was strong. His gallop out was also very good.”
Pedigree Notes:
Arthur B. Hancock III of Stone Farm acquired Mastery's dam for just $20,000 at the 2009 Keeneland November sale in foal to Yes It's True and before the mare's first foal Clear Sailing would become a stakes winner. Hancock had had limited success with Steady Course in subsequent breeding seasons before Mastery caught the eye of agent Gatewood Bell, acting on behalf of owner Everett Dobson, at last year's Keeneland September sale and brought a solid price of $425,000. Steady Course produced a First Samurai colt May 9, but was unsuccessfully bred to Twirling Candy after that. Mastery's second dam is MGSP Steady Cat, who was responsible for GSW and sire Jump Start (A.P. Indy).
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