He employed different tactics than he did in two smashing successes last season, but the result was the same for talented 'TDN Rising Star' Analyze It as he rated kindly before kicking away impressively in Keeneland's opening day feature. A 6 1/4-length debut winner over a pair of next-out graduates going the one-turn mile at Belmont last October, the bay shipped West to contest Del Mar's GIII Cecil B. DeMille S. and ran like it was no class hike at all. He was 4 1/4 lengths clear of Pubilius Syrus (Candy Ride {Arg}), a two-time stakes winner since then.
With the far-outside post and perhaps a bit of rust seemingly his main obstacles, Analyze It broke a bit flat-footed but moved up under his own power to avoid much ground loss into the first bend and sit third down the backside. Longshot Beer Pressure (Silent Name {Jpn}) opened up a double-digit advantage through a half in :48.83 over yielding sod, but Jose Ortiz always seemed supremely confident on the chalk. Analyze It tugged his way closer heading for home, put away pesky foe Dragon Drew (Get Stormy) in midstretch and poured it on from there.
“[Trainer] Chad [Brown] drew it up perfect for me,” said Ortiz, whose brother Irad had taken the other graded race of the day in New York. “He said hopefully two or three horses would go and you can sit tight, third or fourth. And that's what I did. [Analyze It] relaxed very well. The fast pace helped me a lot. When I asked him to go, he went so well, so smooth. He's a really, really nice horse.”
Brown, who mentioned the GI Belmont Derby July 7 as a potential longterm target after being asked about the possibility of heading to Royal Ascot, added, “I have a great jockey on the horse and my team's done a terrific job with this horse. It's a really good win for the home team. This horse was raised just miles from here at Mill Ridge Farm. [He's a] Keeneland sale grad. Pete Bradley, who bought the horse for us, has a big business here in Lexington, so I feel it's a huge win for the home team.
Friday, Keeneland
KENTUCKY UTILITIES TRANSYLVANIA S.-GIII, $150,000, KEE, 4-6, 3yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:45.60, yl.
1–ANALYZE IT, 123, c, 3, by Point of Entry
1st Dam: Sweet Assay, by Consolidator
2nd Dam: Unbridled Assay, by Unbridled's Song
3rd Dam: A. P. Assay, by A.P. Indy
'TDN Rising Star' ($130,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP; $190,000 2yo '17
OBSMAR). O-William H. Lawrence; B-P. Headley & Nancy Bell
& NATO (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Jose L. Ortiz. $90,000.
Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $195,000. Werk Nick Rating: B. Click
for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.[bullet ad=”bradley-purchase-2″][bullet ad=”hoppel-sales-grad”][bullet ad=”kbif-g2g3″]2–Captivating Moon, 118, c, 3, Malibu Moon–Appealing Storm,
by Valid Appeal. O/B-Lothenbach Stables Inc (KY); T-Chris M.
Block. $30,000.
3–Admiralty Pier, 118, g, 3, English Channel–Full Steam Ahead,
by Kitten's Joy. ($100,000 Ylg '16 FTSAUG). O-Hoolie Racing
Stable, LLC & Bruce Lunsford; B-Calumet Farm (KY); T-Barbara
J. Minshall. $15,000.[bullet ad=”webb-carroll-another-wctc-grad”][bullet ad=”eqb-yearlingpurchase”]Margins: 5 1/4, NO, HF. Odds: 0.80, 8.00, 11.30.
Also Ran: Dragon Drew, Maraud, Tigers Rule, Funny Duck, Golden Dragon, King Valero, Tap Daddy, Beer Pressure. Scratched: Determinant. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
Pedigree Notes:
One of 19 winners and the first graded winner for his Adena Springs-based sire, Analyze It–whose full-brother was foaled Feb. 28–is out of a winning half-sister to SP Catchy Tune (Bernstein), but it is his rich and productive third dam that takes up the bulk of the page. Racing for the partnership of Trudy McCaffery and John Toffan, A.P. Assay was a top distaff sprinter on the Southern California circuit, upsetting the likes of Exotic Wood in the 1998 GII A Gleam H. and finishing second to the boys in the GIII Ancient Title BC H., with champion Kona Gold in fifth. A.P. Assay's half-brother Came Home (Gone West) was speedy and precocious enough to win the GI Hopeful S. at two, but stretched out nicely to win the 2002 GI Santa Anita Derby and bested his elders in that year's GI Pacific Classic. The cross of Dynaformer over Storm Cat is responsible for GISW Harmonious and Baptize, himself winner of the Transylvania S. in 2001. Australian Group 1 winner (It's) Somewhat is by Dynaformer out of a mare by Royal Academy, who was a half-brother to Storm Cat's dam Terlingua (Secretariat).
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