Bat Flip victorious in the Central Park (Chelsea Durand)
NYRA Press Office
OZONE PARK, N.Y.— Harrell Ventures and Starlight Racing’s Bat Flip has found his mojo going two turns on the grass following an impressive triumph in Saturday’s $120,000 Central Park for 2-year-olds going one mile over the Big A outer turf. He will now shift attention to a sophomore campaign in South Florida according to Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.
A son of freshman stallion Good Magic, Bat Flip earned an 80 Beyer Speed Figure for his 1 1/2-length victory over Dandy Handyman in his stakes debut. He entered the Central Park off a fourth-out maiden victory going 1 1/16 miles on October 23 at Belmont at the Big A.
“I like the way he finished and it looked like he was full of run in the gallop out as well, so it gives you confidence in some of these bigger races that they have next year,” said Pletcher, who used the 2020 Central Park as a springboard to a productive 3-year-old campaign for Never Surprised.
Pletcher said Bat Flip would join the bulk of his stock on the journey to Palm Beach Downs in South Florida, where he will remain in light training with the possibility of targeting action on the Gulfstream Park stakes program.
“I need to talk to the connections, but we’ll take him down to Palm Beach Downs,” Pletcher said. “We’ll probably freshen him up a little bit but still keep him in training and maybe run him at Gulfstream once or twice.”
Bat Flip made his first two starts in dirt sprints at Saratoga, finishing a well-beaten fifth and fourth, respectively. He made his turf debut when second to graded stakes winner and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf runner-up Nagirroc on September 24 going six furlongs at Belmont at the Big A.
“We just felt like he was sort of bottoming out on the dirt, so we felt like it was worth a try on the turf. It looks like that was the right move with him,” Pletcher said.
Bred in Kentucky by Fifth Avenue Bloodstock, Bat Flip is out of the Harlan’s Holiday mare Krazy Kathy – a full-sister to graded stakes winner and Pletcher alumnus Intense Holiday and a half-sister to turf graded stakes-winning millionaire Money Multiplier. He was bought for $350,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, where he was consigned by Indian Creek.
