Rated by Merit winning on debut at Gulfstream Park. (Lauren King)
$100,000 FSS Dr. Fager Sept. 7 ‘an Option’ for Yates Trainee
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Even before observers had the opportunity to fully digest what they had just witnessed July 13 at Gulfstream Park, they were surely wondering what St. Elias Stable’s Rated by Merit could possibly do for an encore.
The 2-year-old son of Battalion Runner, who cruised across the finish line 9 ¾ lengths ahead of his nearest leg-weary rival in his debut, took a giant step toward his second career start Wednesday morning at Gulfstream. The Michael Yates trainee breezed five furlongs in a sharp 59.85 seconds, by far the fastest of seven workouts at the distance, in preparation for his anxiously awaited return.
“He had a really good breeze. All we wanted to do was let him finish up from the quarter-pole to the wire. He finished really well,” Yates said. “He had a horse in front of him that wasn’t scheduled that he followed around there. It worked out really well. It gave him a target to run at and he went past them really nicely.”
Wednesday’s breeze was his third workout since his eye-catching debut, following a pair of half-mile breezes.
“Obviously, he’s a young horse, so we’re just trying to develop a young horse that’s doing well. We don’t want to overdo it, but we don’t want to not do enough, so when we lead him over there, he’s ready,” said Yates, who noted that jockey Jesus Rios was aboard for Wednesday’s breeze. “We’ve just been maintaining him in his works, and we’re progressively doing a little bit more with him.”
St. Elias Stable’s homebred colt is eligible for the 2024 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes series, that gets under way Sept. 7 at Gulfstream with the $100,000 Dr. Fager division, as well as the $100,000 Desert Vixen for fillies.
“It is an option at this point,” Yates said. “Nothing’s definite. His work this morning was a very good work. He’s obviously moving forward. We’ll see how he comes out of the work, see how he trains this week, and make a decision in the near future.”
Perhaps more impressive than his margin of victory in his debut was his 92 Beyer Speed Figure, which was the highest of any 2-year-old in the country before being surpassed by Ferocious, a $1.3 million yearling purchase, who was credited with a 96 after his impressive debut at Saratoga two weeks later.
“We felt he was ready to go. He ran better than I expected. I expected him to run well, but he obviously was kind of dazzling,” said Yates, whose trainee ran six furlongs in 1:10.50 while leading throughout. “It was a big move. He ran a huge race.”
