By Brian DiDonato
Lightly raced Speaker's Corner had earned some strong speed figures up to this point for a horse without a stakes win, and he kicked off his 4-year-old campaign auspiciously with a breakthrough tally in Florida. A second-out graduate in New York as a fall juvenile over a very salty bunch of future stakes runners (Caddo River, Greatest Honour, Miles D, Bourbonic and Original), Speaker's Corner resurfaced off the long lay-off to crush Saratoga allowance foes by open lengths. The GI Pennsylvania Derby next out perhaps proved too much too soon, as he was a distant sixth behind Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) that day, but he bounced back just fine to take a Belmont optional claimer Oct. 29 with a gaudy 109 Beyer. He settled for second last out to old familiar foe Miles D (Curlin) after showing the way in Aqueduct's nine-furlong Discovery S., but this one-turn-mile trip figured to hit him right between the eyes.
Speaker's Corner broke well and eventually poked a head in front of foes on either side through a :22.13 first quarter. The bay was able to earn a sliver of separation after that, but he had to work for it through a :44.82 half. Favored GIII Harlan's Holiday S. winner Fearless was scrubbed on aggressively heading for home as Speaker's Corner still had his hands full with his company up front. Speaker's Corner put away Officiating as he straightened for home, and he dug in ferociously to hold sway Fearless, who was previously 5-4-1-0 over this strip and was representing the red-hot Todd Pletcher barn.
“It was just a phenomenal performance by him,” said winning pilot Junior Alvarado. “We always thought very high of him. He's been a bit of a process to build up and to get to this race and the way he did it. He has a great a great trainer in Bill Mott. I think I was just a passenger today. He was very good today. He put up the fast fractions with horses on the inside and outside. He put them away and still had enough courage to draw away home very strong.”
Mott added, “We didn't know if we'd be on the lead. We didn't really plan to be there, but the horse broke well and he was taking him and he was traveling easily. He was in between horses and he said he didn't want to get jammed up so he let him cruise on and it worked out well. They took a little run at him around the turn and he was able to repel those horses and, of course, good enough to hold off the late challenge of Fearless.”
Saturday, Gulfstream Park
FRED W. HOOPER S. PRESENTED BY HILL 'N' DALE FARMS AT XALAPA-GIII, $150,000, Gulfstream, 1-29, 4yo/up, 1m, 1:35.26, ft.
1–SPEAKER'S CORNER, 118, c, 4, by Street Sense
1st Dam: Tyburn Brook, by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Round Pond, by Awesome Again
3rd Dam: Gift of Dance, by Trempolino
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN.
O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Junior Alvarado.
$90,210. Lifetime Record: 7-4-1-1, $286,850.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Fearless, 124, g, 6, Ghostzapper–And Why Not, by Street Cry
(Ire). ($725,000 Ylg '17 KEESEP; $120,000 RNA 4yo '20
FTKHRA; $205,000 5yo '21 FTKHRA). O-Repole Stable; B-Helen
K. Groves Revocable Trust (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $29,100.
3–Officiating, 124, c, 4, Blame–Come a Callin, by Dixie Union.
($100,000 RNA Ylg '19 KEESEP). O/B-Vegso Racing Stable (FL);
T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. $14,550.
Margins: 1 1/4, 9 1/4, 2HF. Odds: 1.50, 1.30, 22.70.
Also Ran: Girolamo's Attack, Liam, Shivaree, Payne, Dennis' Moment. Scratched: Bon Raison. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
Pedigree Notes:
Speaker's Corner is bred identically to MGISW Maxfield, who will begin his first season at stud for Darley in a couple weeks. Fellow Darley resident Street Sense now has 82 stakes winners, 36 of them graded. The late Bernardini, meanwhile, one of the hottest broodmare sires of the last few years, is responsible for the dams of 61 stakes winners (34 graded) and counting. Colonel Liam (Liam's Map), also out of a Bernardini mare, defended his title in the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. one race later Saturday.
The winner's unraced dam is a daughter of 2006 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff heroine Round Pound (Awesome Again)–she rode the same Churchill rail that day that Street Sense charged up for his GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile romp. Round Pond was acquired by Sheikh Mohammed for a sale-topping $5.75 million at the 2007 Fasig-Tipton November sale. Her black-type earning progeny include G1 Al Maktoum Challenge winner Long River (A.P. Indy).
Speaker's Corner is his dam's first foal. He has a year-younger full-brother named Town Branch who shows an upbeat worktab at Payson Park, a 2-year-old half-brother by Maclean's Music and a yearling half-brother by Nyquist born last May.
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