Zayat Stables' Justin Squared Wires Chick Lang

Justins Casse (left) and Zayat lead in the winner | MJC/Jim McCue

Justin Squared (Zensational) made it back-to-back black-type wins on the Preakness undercard for 'TDN Rising Stars,' as he took Saturday's Chick Lang S. by the throat a few strides out of the gates and never looked back.

The colt, named for Ahmed Zayat's son and bloodstock agent Justin Casse, was highly impressive in defeating future MSW Iron Rob (Twirling Candy) by 5 1/2 lengths at the tail end of the Del Mar meeting Sept. 5 before calling it a season. Though he was Triple Crown nominated, Justin Squared returned to action just last month, besting Paul Reddam's subsequent GIII Laz Barrera S. runner-up Mrazek (Square Eddie) by 1 3/4 lengths in a Los Alamitos allowance Apr. 21.

Bounced away from the stalls by Martin Pedroza, the gray made a bee-line for the gap, the raced keenly and hard against the steel through an opening quarter in :23.01. Hand-ridden into the stretch, Justin Squared opened up passing the eighth pole and was pushed out mostly hands and heels for the victory. Counterforce (Smart Strike) rallied down the center of what has been a fair surface to be second ahead of longshot Formal Summation (In Summation) in third.

“When he broke left out of the gate, I'm like, 'No, no.' He may have even skimmed the rail a bit,” explained Pedroza. “After he straightened out, I had a good hold on him the whole way. He is very versatile and can go longer, too. He had unbelievable speed and reminds me of Private Zone,” he added, referring to that multiple Grade I-winning son of Macho Uno with whom he has had a tremendous association.

Bred along the same lines as MGSW & MGISP Unbridled's Note–who appears under the second dam–Justin Squared is closely related to 2-year-old Leon Matera (Unbridled's Song), a $500,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase who is in training in Japan. Graciously Soft was most recently bred to Pioneerof the Nile. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

CHICK LANG S., $100,000, PIM, 5-21, 3yo, 6f, 1:11.41, my.
1–#JUSTIN SQUARED, 116, c, 3, by Zensational
1st Dam: Graciously Soft, by Vindication
2nd Dam: Siberian Fur, by Siberian Express
3rd Dam: Siksika, by Quack
($130,000 RNA Wlg '13 KEENOV). O-Zayat Stables LLC; B-Sun Valley Farm (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Martin A Pedroza. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $129,600.[bullet ad=”sallusto-albina-double-bullet-weanling-mare-purchase”][bullet ad=”justin-casse-double-team-zayat”][bullet ad=”grovendale-sales-graduate”][bullet ad=”mckathan-brothers-training-grad”]2–Counterforce, 120, c, 3, Smart Strike–Achieving, by Bernardini. ($310,000 RNA Ylg '14 KEESEP). O-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings Inc & George Prussin (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $20,000.[bullet ad=”hill-n-dale-bred-raised-and-sold”]3–Formal Summation, 116, c, 3, In Summation–Formal Desire, by Formal Dinner. ($15,000 Ylg '14 OBSWIN; $6,200 Ylg '14 OBSAUG). O-Tommy Roberts Racing Stable LLC; B-Lynne & Chris Boutte (FL); T-Kathleen O'Connell. $10,000.
Margins: 2, 2, 2 3/4. Odds: 0.80, 2.30, 45.00.
Also Ran: Never Gone South, Cozze Cat, Discreet Angel, Big Louie D. Scratched: Quijote.

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