NYRA Press
Photo Credit: Chelsea Durand / Fully Vested
With an outstanding 7 ¼-length romp in Saturday’s $150,000 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship, which garnered a career-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure, Fully Vested gave trainer Tom Albertrani a third stakes winner of the fall meet, putting the 61-year-old conditioner on even terms with Mark Casse for most stakes wins at the current Big A stand.
The 5-year-old Discreet Cat gelding arrived at the Aqueduct Turf Sprint from a good third in the Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational, which was won by stablemate and fellow Godolphin color bearer Final Frontier.
Albertrani said that Fully Vested would ship to Palm Meadows Training Center in South Florida for the winter, where future plans will be evaluated.
“We were pretty confident going in just knowing what he ran against last time at Belmont,” Albertrani said Sunday morning. “We felt pretty good about our chances but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw him win as impressive as he did. He looked fine this morning, well probably regroup with him and ship him down to Florida and take things from there.”
Albertrani did not rule out a possible international endeavor in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan Racecourse on March 28.
“It was something brought up in conversation, whether or not we go that route, it’s too soon to make those plans but it’s hard to really make those plans but it’s nice to talk about it,” said Albertrani. “The race was a bit of a class relief from the last race but he did show a pretty good turn of foot yesterday where he did step up a bit from his last race. Time will tell.”
Albertrani could build on a successful Fall Meet with Dyna Passer and Panther Hit, who are scheduled for the $100,000 Winter Memories, slated for December 7.
“It’s been a good week. Weather permitting, we’ll have Dyna Passer in the Winter Memories,” Albertrani said.
