Global Perspective clears the field and breaks his maiden convincingly (Chelsea Durand)
By 2YO EdgeMan
SAR1:082523 – After this race was taken off the turf, more than half of the field was scratched, including my pick – #7 Tireless. That left us with only seven starters from of the original 16 horses that passed through the entry box. But the show went on at one mile over the main, muddy (sealed) track. The outside horse, originally on the Also Eligible list, made the field and went off as the post time favorite at odds of 8/5 – #16 Global Perspective. Conditioned by Chad Brown and ridden by Flavien Prat, he stalked the pacesetter, laying back no more than two lengths from the front, before convincingly moving clear down the lane to score by 2 ¾ lengths on the wire. The fractions and final time were not overly fast – 24.99, 49.00, 1:13.04, 1:25.80 and 1:38.03 – giving the winner a 75 Equibase Base Speed Fig. His $2W tickets paid a paltry $3.50. Congrats to his owner in the Game of Silks – Papoose Stables.
Learnings – not sure if there really were any in this messy affair, but I do look back to the fact that the victor was sired by Tapit, trained by Brown and had a previous race under his belt.
SAR6:082523 – If you read our ‘Picks, Plays and Pontification’ piece prior to this race, you know that we were anxiously awaiting this one, as it was absolutely loaded. Our pick – #8 Daily Grind – was certainly a disappointment, but oh boy, the winner was far from one. #6 Fierceness lived up to his name as he absolutely manhandled the field and drew off, although he was basically eased in the last 1/16th. By the end, he was more than 11 lengths clear of his nearest rival – and he certainly was not running against plow horses. After the race, the twitter boards were buzzing – some now anointing him as the leading 2YO in training (which is hard to disagree with). Owned by Repole Stables, trained by TAP and of course guided by Irad, Fierceness led at every pole in amazing fractions of 22.02, 44.65 and 56.60, before stopping the final timer for six furlongs in a dazzling 1:09.56. No, that’s not a typo – 1:09.56 – and it calculated to a phenomenal 101 EBSF. His $2W payout was stingy – $4.20 – but after the race, even money seemed a tremendous value on this monster.
Learnings – As you know, up until this point, I try to essentially never pick the favorite. I still think it makes sense to try to do my best to find a horse other than the favorite to finger, but this race taught me that sometimes, even at very low odds, the favorite is the best pick and actually provides the best value. So, going forward, I’m going to give myself more latitude to choose the fav, on occasion.
SAR6:082623 – As big of a runaway that the previous race turned out to be, this one provided us with a doozy of a finish. #10 Life’s Joy blasted out of the gate like a rocket and posted a first quarter in 22.10 seconds. However, by the later part of the turn she began to tire and the favorite – #4 Shop Lifting – passed her and took the lead. All the while, Junior Alvarado was getting his mount rolling from a few lengths further back in the field. #9 Just F Y I, conditioned by HOFer Bill Mott, took dead aim at the fav down the lane and just got up to catch her right on the wire to win by a mere head. The half was clicked off in 45.17 and the 5/8th was accomplished in 57.67, with the final clocking coming in at 1:11.06 for the six furlong spring over the main track. Her EBSF was an impressive 85 and the $2W payout worked out to be $9.50. Jeffsp1965 Stables is the lucky owner of this filly in Silks. Our pick – #3 Antenna – found the competition much stiffer here at The Spa and never really made a closing charge – she wound up checking in 7th of 10.
Learnings – Mott doesn’t win often with firsters, but, with the right horse, at times he does. He’s had a barnful of two-year-old First-Time Starters this meet – a total of 26 thru Sunday – and this was his fourth win in that category (15.4%). Last summer here at Saratoga, he sent out 32 juveniles for their first race and he got his picture taken with two of them (6.3%). It is not a newsflash to say that Mott is patient with his youngsters, but on the other side of the coin, he definitely does have a lot of talent in his yard and always has the potential to pop them first time out.
Thursday marks opening day at Kentucky Downs (and Races 1 and 10 are both ‘our races’). It’s hard to fathom, but they will be offering a purse of $150,000 for 2YO MSW events this year. Best I can tell from their Conditions’ Book, they have a total of 15 scheduled during their boutique meet that lasts seven days – ending on 9/13/23. Additionally, Belmont at The Big A and Churchill Downs will also open their doors for their Fall Meets on Thursday, 9/14/23. However, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves as we’ve still got one of our races set to go here at Saratoga on Wednesday, two on Thursday and two more on Friday – plus, whatever more is scheduled for the closing weekend, which of course includes Labor Day Monday.
So, plenty to look forward to, even though the Spa is in the home stretch for 2023. Take care my Special Edgies – get some rest and be ready to roll as we move into our next phase of the year.
