Godolphin's Annual Report looked to have some work to do on paper, but, let go as the 7-1 second-longest price in the field in Saturday's GII Futurity S. at Belmont Park, outfinished favored King Kranz for the upset.
The Futurity field was off in a straight line, but Annual Report looked to be going awkwardly early on and was well back on the turn as Manhattan Dan sprinted clear early and covered the opening quarter-mile in a solid :22.24. Shown the whip by jockey Joe Bravo fully 2 1/2 furlongs from home, Annual Report picked up the bit and rallied outside of King Kretz under a full head of steam entering the stretch. The bay wanted to lay in badly with an eighth of a mile to race, but Bravo switched across to a left-handed stick to straighten out Annual Report and the duo crossed the wire an ultimately comfortable winner. Manhattan Dan held on for third ahead of Ready Dancer (More Than Ready).
“I tried to send him away there in the first couple jumps,” the victorious rider explained. “It was not my intention to be that far back but it just got a little tight down the backside. He was really comfortable and going good, and by the three-eighths pole he started getting to them and getting to them. He really hit his stride.”
Twice withdrawn from yearling sales in 2014, Annual Report was consigned to this year's Fasig-Tipton Florida Sale at Gulfstream and touted himself with a one-furlong breeze that went in :10 2/5. He was subsequently purchased by these connections for $600,000, the second-most expensive juvenile from the penultimate crop of his successful late stallion. The bay made the trip down to suburban Philadelphia and was the 3-2 chalk for a 5 1/2-furlong maiden Sept. 20, one day after the GII Pennsylvania Derby success of his GI Breeders' Cup Classic-bound stable companion Frosted (Tapit). Annual Report proved far too classy for that group, carrying Bravo to a modestly rated 5 1/4-length success.
The winner's second dam won the GI Ballerina H. in 1999 and is a half-sister to Dancing Spree (Nijinsky II), who defeated Safely Kept in the 1989 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Gulfstream Park. Deeper under the third dam is champion Heavenly Prize (Seeking the Gold). Pension is the dam of a yearling colt by Giant's Causeway, a weanling colt by Ghostzapper and was bred to Hard Spun this season.
Saturday, Belmont Park
FUTURITY S.-GII, $200,000, BEL, 10-17, 2yo, 6f, 1:09.82, ft.
1–#@ANNUAL REPORT, 118, c, 2, by Harlan's Holiday
1st Dam: Pension, by Seeking the Gold
2nd Dam: Furlough, by Easy Goer
3rd Dam: Blitey, by Riva Ridge
($600,000 2yo '15 FTFMAR). O-Godolphin Racing LLC;
B-Gainesway Thoroughbreds Ltd. (KY); T-Kiaran P. McLaughlin;
J-Joe Bravo. $120,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $170,400.
*1/2 to Flores Island (Giant's Causeway), MSP, $244,070. Werk
Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.[bullet ad=”kbif-g2g3″][bullet ad=”gainesway-bred”]
2–King Kranz, 116, c, 2, Munnings">Munnings–Queen Congie, by Henny
Hughes. ($25,000 Wlg '13 KEENOV; $37,000 RNA Ylg '14
FTKJUL; $95,000 2yo '15 OBSMAR). O-Zayat Stables LLC; B-Bob
& Alice Austin (KY); T-John P. Terranova II. $40,000.[bullet ad=”mckathan-brothers-training-grad”][bullet ad=”machmer-hall-pinhooked-and-raised”][bullet ad=”selectsales-shell”]
3–Manhattan Dan, 118, c, 2, Big Brown–Purely Excessive, by In
Excess (Ire). O-Platinum Seven LLC, Dan Guarino & Runner
Runner Investments LLC; B-Sanford H. Robbins, LLC (KY);
T-Gary C. Contessa. $20,000.[bullet ad=”hidden-brook-raised”]
Margins: 1HF, 4HF, NK. Odds: 7.40, 1.75, 4.70.
Also Ran: Ready Dancer, Full Salute, Legend Keeper.
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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