Ag Bullet storming the field. (Chelsea Durand)
By Keith McCalmont
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Calvin Nguyen and Joey Tran’s multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire mare Ag Bullet stormed home a two-length winner under Hall of Famer John Velazquez to best the boys in Sunday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Jaipur, a 5 1/2-furlong Mellon turf sprint for 3-year-olds and up on Closing Day of the five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Richard Baltas, Ag Bullet’s victory in the Jaipur, which was originally slated for Saturday’s Belmont Stakes Day card and rescheduled due to heavy rain, provided a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar.
The 5-year-old Twirling Candy grey, who joins Caravel [2023] and Oleksandra [2020] as females to win the Jaipur, was a neck third in the five-furlong Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint last year at Del Mar.
Baltas said he didn’t mind having the Spa’s all-time leading rider Velazquez pick up the mount from Flavien Prat, who was in Kentucky Sunday to ride Final Gambit to a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Matt Winn at Churchill Downs.
“She was at Keeneland with my assistant and Prat worked her, but these things happen, so Johnny came up and he’s the king of Saratoga, isn’t he,” Baltas said. “Very good filly. There’s only so many Grade 1s and she was third in the Breeders’ Cup against the boys. She ran very good that day. We had a little snag yesterday [with the weather delay], but that was fine.”
Think Big, the even-money favorite with Ben Curtis up, was off a step slow and faltered to ninth as Coppola surged to the lead from the outermost post 10 under Umberto Rispoli to mark the opening quarter-mile in 22.52 seconds over the good going.
“He didn’t break the quickest,” Curtis said. “We were in the two lane, and we were in there a while, waiting for the rest [of the horses to load]. He got a little bit keyed up and that probably cost him in the race, but also the soft ground. He didn’t pick it up like he normally can.”
Ag Bullet tracked the speed of Coppola from second position to the outside of My Boy Prince as Alogon launched a wide bid through the turn. Coppola spun the field into the lane as Curtis angled Think Big off the rail in attempt to find clear racing room, but it was the mare Ag Bullet that found her best stride, powering to the lead inside the three-sixteenths and surging to the wire in a final time of 1:03.62.
“Broke well like we were expecting to break,” Velazquez said. “One speed goes, and I sat right off of them or third. She allowed me to sit right off of them and when I asked her to go, she was there for me. It was pretty easy.”
The Jose Lezcano-piloted My Boy Prince battled gamely along the rail to complete the exacta by a head over a rallying Alogon, who was a nose better than fourth-place Arzak. Coppola, Extendo, Think Big, Our Shot, Bold Journey and Vinsanity rounded out the order of finish.
In victory, Ag Bullet avenged a troubled-trip seventh as the mutuel favorite in the Grade 3 Unbridled Sidney in May at Churchill Downs when racing off a five-month layoff from a prominent one-length third in the Grade 1 Matriarch in December at Del Mar.
“Over the moon. It’s been an up and down thing with this filly. She was overachieving last year,” Baltas said. “We tried to get the Grade 1 and were [fourth], third and third and now she’s got a Grade 1 win and she’s a very valuable filly. Last time, you guys saw what happened.”
Gary Barber’s Ontario-bred My Boy Prince, last out winner of the six-furlong Listed Elusive Quality at Belmont at the Big A for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, proved his turf sprinting talent was no fluke. The 4-year-old Cairo Prince grey stretched out to 10-furlongs over Tapeta last summer at Woodbine when a close second to filly Caitlinhergrtness in the King’s Plate, the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown.
“He broke the same or as good as he did last time,” Lezcano said. “When I asked the horse, he was there for me. He ran a good race.
“I rode him like that in the sprint last time,” Lezcano added. “He [Casse] put him back with the sprinters and he ran good again.”
Ag Bullet made the grade in the Grade 3 Monrovia last April at Santa Anita Park and added the Grade 2 Ladies Turf Sprint to her ledger in August at Kentucky Downs.
Baltas indicated a return to Kentucky Downs could be in order for Ag Bullet on her way back to California for the Breeders’ Cup.
“I’m going to run her in Kentucky Downs in the race she won last year,” Baltas said. “Maybe she is a five and a half [furlong] horse. I always wanted to stretch her out to six and a half [or] a mile, but she might be better sprinting. We could run her one more, but I’m not in any rush.”
Bred in Kentucky by H & E Ranch, Ag Bullet, out of the winning Forestry mare Noble Grey, banked $275,000 in victory while improving her record to 14-7-0-2. She returned $7.70 for $2 win bet
Live racing at the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet now moves back downstate to Aqueduct Racetrack, beginning with an eight-race card on Thursday, June 12. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
