Unified Stays Perfect in Bay Shore

Unified | Horsephotos

Centennial Farms' 'TDN Rising Star' Unified was an extremely impressive winner of his Feb. 21 debut, beating the break at 4-5 and never looking back, scoring a wire-to-wire victory by 3 lengths in 1:08.95, earning a 99 Beyer Speed Figure for the powerhouse performance. Trainer Jimmy Jerkens showed great confidence in his colt, stepping him right up into graded stakes company off that maiden-breaker and the 57-year-old conditioner was rewarded for his bullishness with his first career win in the GIII Bay Shore S.

Unified did not break as sharply this time around, coming away second-last, but without anyone else taking the early initiative, the $325,000 Fasig-Tipton August buy easily punched through at the inside, a half-length in front of King Kranz through a :22.65 first quarter. Maintaining that advantage into the far turn, he clicked off a :45.88 half under the slightest of urging.

With Jose Ortiz glancing to his inside for closers, King Kranz pulled within a head of the leader, but Unified was cut loose at the top of the stretch and splashed away from his pace foe. King Kranz continued to give game chase, but never posed a serious threat in the stretch, as Unified kept to his task and legitimized his major first-out effort.

Cocked and Loaded was a well-beaten third despite a perfect trip and Awesome Gent (Awesome Again) checked in fourth.

“I wasn't paying attention and then I saw they were out of the gate,” Jerkens said. “I saw he wasn't on the lead but he was close. He broke stupidly sharp last time and I didn't expect him [to do that again], but he got the lead easy enough. When I saw King Kranz's jockey scrubbing on him in the middle of the turn, I felt pretty confident.”

Ortiz, picking up the mount for Keeneland-bound Castellano, was plenty impressed.

“I was in good position and Jimmy told me to wait until they come to him,” Ortiz said. “I waited until the quarter pole and when I asked him to go, he flew. I think he is really, really nice. Now he's got two races that prove that. The horses with five or six races under their belts–he with just one race–he beat them.”

 

Saturday, Aqueduct
BAY SHORE S.-GIII, $300,000, AQU, 4-9, 3yo, 7f, 1:22.86, my.
1–#@UNIFIED, 114, c, 3, by Candy Ride (Arg)
Fasig-Tipton-Winner-Logo1st Dam: Union City (SP), by Dixie Union
2nd Dam: City Sister, by Carson City
3rd Dam: Demi Souer, by Storm Bird
($325,000 Ylg '14 FTSAUG). O-Centennial Farms; B-Blue Devil
Racing Stable LLC (KY); T-James A. Jerkens; J-Jose L. Ortiz.
$180,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $204,000.[bullet ad=”lanes-end-foaledraisedsold”][bullet ad=”kbif-g2g3″]2–King Kranz, 120, c, 3, 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. $60,000.[bullet ad=”machmer-hall-pinhooked-and-raised”][bullet ad=”selectsales-shell”][bullet ad=”mckathan-brothers-training-grad”][bullet ad=”eqb-2yoauctionpurchase”][bullet ad=”darbydan-shell”]3–Cocked and Loaded, 123, c, 3, Colonel John–Catch the Moon,
by Malibu Moon. ($16,000 Ylg '14 KEESEP). O-Richard Ravin &
Patricia's Hope LLC; B-Bob Austin & John Witte (KY); T-Larry
Rivelli. $30,000.[bullet ad=”legacy-bloodstock-shell”]Margins: 3, 8, 4 3/4. Odds: 1.20, 10.20, 4.20.Also Ran: Awesome Gent, Richie the Bull, Sallisaw. Scratched: Never Gone South, Awesome Speed. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

 

Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.

Copy Article Link

X

Never miss another story from the TDN

Click Here to sign up for a free subscription.