Team Valor International and WinStar Farm's Gouverneur Morris (Constitution)'s reputation preceded him when he made his debut last month at Saratoga, and he didn't disappoint despite the obstacle of a sloppy track. Saturday, he faces another hurdle after drawing the outermost stall as a likely heavy favorite in Keeneland's GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the GI TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
Bought for $600,000 at Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream after breezing a furlong in :10 1/5, the gray was punched down to 3-5 favoritism debuting on closing day at the Spa. Named after one of the Founding Fathers who wrote the Preamble to the United States Constitution, Gouverneur Morris didn't break all that sharply and had to be pushed on early, but had no issues once finding his footing, powering away to a nine-length score under wraps. That effort was easily good enough for 'TDN Rising Star' honors, and the Todd Pletcher trainee has worked three times in the interim, most recently going five furlongs in 1:00.80 (2/11) Sept. 27 at Belmont in company with fellow 'Rising Star' Alpha Sixty Six (Liam's Map) (XBTV video).
Live Oak Plantation's Tap It to Win (Tapit) and Godolphin's Maxfield (Street Sense) also will look to build on promising debut scores. The former, second at 6-5 debuting on the Woodbine turf July 21, switched to the main track Aug. 24 at Saratoga and graduated by a good-looking 3 1/2 lengths. The homebred tuned up for this with a snappy five-furlong bullet in :59.34 (1/18) Sept. 22 at Big Sandy. The latter showed promise when overcoming a slow start and passing every horse to get up and win going a mile on debut Sept. 14 at Churchill.
The lone stakes winner in the field is Anderson Stables' By Your Side (Constitution). A first-out winner June 14 at Churchill, the $240,000 Keeneland September buy repeated by three lengths in the GIII Sanford S. July 13 at Saratoga before running a disappointing fifth in the GI Runhappy Hopeful S. there Sept. 2.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
