Exaggerator (Curlin), ridden and trained respectively by Louisiana-born brothers Kent and Keith Desormeaux, gave the pair quite the welcome home present Saturday as he came through at 4-5 odds in the $1-million GIII Delta Downs Jackpot. GI Champagne S. runner-up Sunny Ridge (Holy Bull) was a game second, beaten just a neck, while longshot Harlan Punch (Harlan's Holiday) made a menacing move before settling for third. A second-up winner sprinting at Del Mar in July, the dark bay found a seam and powered through to take the GII Saratoga Special S. in August. Freshened after that, he returned to be second behind Brody's Cause (Giant's Causeway) in Keeneland's GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity S. Oct. 3, he was last seen finishing fourth 28 days later after chasing the pace in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
“It's really making the Breeders' Cup [result] a little more aggravating,” said Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux, who won the inaugural running of this race with Outta Here (Dehere) in 2002. “I'm grateful, and certainly happy to do it for all the Louisiana people… but he just wanted to do so much more in the Breeders' Cup and this just ascertains my judgment of his race. Today he just floated along and he had plenty left–something I wasn't allowed to do in the Breeders' Cup. Today, he was just allowed to be himself, and he can really run.”
Taking a slight stutter-step out of the gate, Exaggerator was well out into the center of the course passing the wire for the first time. He challenged for the lead hitting the first bend, and established command through splits of :47.53 and 1:13.47. Sunny Ridge put a head in front of the favorite leaving the home bend, but Exaggerator responded willingly, and always seemed to have that foe's measure, with Desormeaux putting his stick away a stride or two before the line.
“As Kent alluded to, the fact that he was over-aggressive in the Breeders' Cup was not his fault, it was mine,” said Keith Desormeaux. “I had him a little too on edge. That's a trainer error. I'll take the brunt for that one, but we didn't do a bad job today.”
Desormeaux looked to have a serious GI Kentucky Derby prospect around this time last year in the form of GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile romper Texas Red (Afleet Alex). While that runner missed first Saturday in May, Desormeaux is excited about Exaggerator's Classic prospects. The dark bay sits second on the 2016 Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 16 points.
“He's bred for it, he obviously has the precociousness and athleticism,” Desormeaux said. “The Derby's still a long way off, but we have time to recover and it'll be a fun trip to take the Louisiana connections to Louisville.”
Exaggerator hails from the female family of Canadian champions Embur's Song (Unbridled's Song) and Eternal Search.
Saturday, Delta Downs
$1,000,000 DELTA DOWNS JACKPOT S.-GIII, $1,000,000, DED, 11-21, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 1:46.48, my.
1–EXAGGERATOR, 122, c, 2, by Curlin">Curlin
1st Dam: Dawn Raid (SP), by Vindication
2nd Dam: Embur Sunshine, by Bold Ruckus
3rd Dam: Vevila (GB), by The Minstrel
($110,000 Ylg '14 KEESEP). O-Big Chief Racing, LLC; B-Joseph B
Murphy (KY); T-J. Keith Desormeaux; J-Kent J. Desormeaux.
$600,000. Lifetime Record: GISP, 6-3-1-0, $983,120. Werk Nick
Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.[bullet ad=”warrendale-sales-graduate-shell”][bullet ad=”kbif-g2g3″]
2–Sunny Ridge, 119, g, 2, Holy Bull–Lignum Vitae, by
Songandaprayer. O/B-Dennis Drazin (NJ); T-Jason Servis.
$180,000.
3–Harlan Punch, 117, c, 2, Harlan's Holiday–Indy Punch, by
Pulling Punches. ($170,000 RNA Ylg '14 KEESEP).
O/B-Rosemont Farm LLC (KY); T-Thomas M. Amoss. $100,000.[bullet ad=”webb-carroll-another-wctc-grad”]
Margins: NK, 4 3/4, 9HF. Odds: 0.90, 4.40, 17.70.
Also Ran: Found Money, Whitmore, Forevamo, Texas Jambalaya, Memories of Winter, Cowboy Classic, Iron Dome.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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