Florida-bred Flood Zone outruns his 17-1 odds in the Gotham (Chelsea Durand)
Lynne Snierson/NYRA Press Office
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Flood Zone overcame a number of firsts in his initial start for new connections, including stretching out to the distance of one mile, making his first foray into open company, and competing at Aqueduct Racetrack.
None of that proved to present any obstacles as he scored the upset in Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham to earn 50 qualifying points for the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and pass a milepost on the road to Louisville on the first Saturday in May.
The Florida-bred son of Frosted and the Curlin mare Curls for Girls was purchased privately by Wathnan Racing, which is the nom de course for the Emir of Qatar, and transferred to the barn of dual Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox after winning a state-bred maiden special weight sprinting 6 1/2-furlongs on January 4th at Gulfstream Park in his second start on that track.
The connections decided to stick with the 3-year-old bay colt’s regular jockey, Reylu Gutierrez, who was in the irons again when Flood Zone traveled the one-turn mile in 1:39.62 on a fast track to defeat the other eight sophomores in the field.
Flood Zone, dispatched at 17.80-1, finished 3 1/4 lengths ahead of the favorite Sand Devil, who was on the lead until being passed by the winner inside the eighth-pole, while Garamond closed willingly to be third another 1 3/4 lengths back. My Mitole, McAfee, who is a half-brother to Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna, Pagode, Calling Card, Sacrosanct, and Normandy Coast followed to the wire. The top-five finishers earned 50-25-15-10-5 points on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard, respectively.
Flood Zone was prominent through the first quarter in 23.86 seconds, then had to fight off challenges from six rivals as the field set fractions of 47.97, 1:13.69 and 1:26.47 before he put them all away to pull off the upset. Flood Zone paid $37.60 for a $2 wager.
“How fun was that?” said Case Clay, the U.S. advisor to Wathnan Racing. “He always looked like a horse that could go a bit longer with his second race at six and a half furlongs, and the Gotham was the next logical step at a mile. The way he won that second race with that turn of foot on the dirt, we just had a lot of confidence in him. We were optimistic, but you never know with these 3-year-olds in these Derby preps how it’s going to go. Reylu has always been confident in the horse, too, and wanted to ride him, and we were happy to have him ride him in this race. It’s exciting and it doesn’t always work out this way. For the team at Wathnan Racing, it feels good for all of us.
“A great break, very good position, and not too fast for the first quarter. It was one of those things where – keep the position to the turn and then make a go of it,” Clay continued. “He answered from there and I thought it was a good ride. He had a good trip and when the rubber met the road, he answered.”
The Gotham is the traditional prep race for the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino to be run at 1 1/8 miles on April 5 here. But immediately after the race, Clay said nothing has yet been decided on which road Flood Zone might travel to the Kentucky Derby.
“We’ll get with Brad and see how he comes out of the race and make a decision from there,” he said.
Meanwhile Dustin Dugas, assistant to Cox, who also saddled eighth-place finisher Sacrosanct said, “It was a great effort. Reylu knew more about the horse than I did – he was a recent purchase and Reylu had ridden him the first two times as well. He said he was full of horse today and really happy with him. He broke very sharp, and he said as soon as he crossed the chute, he was full of horse and in command from there on. The horse came in from Payson and had three gallops here at Belmont. He seems like a solid colt.”
Gutierrez, who notched the seventh graded stakes win of his career, was over the moon in the winner’s circle.
“I’m ecstatic,” Gutierrez said. “These are the best connections in the world. Brad Cox is a multiple Eclipse Award-winning trainer. They could get any jockey in the country and for some reason, they decided to keep Reylu Gutierrez on this horse and for that I’m humbled and grateful. This horse did all of it – it’s all about the horse.
“He broke really sharp and on the bridle. Once we passed the chute, he was in control and in command,” Gutierrez added. “I just let him take me. I have to credit Dylan Davis, too. We spoke yesterday at Gulfstream about playing on this track and I have to give him a lot of credit. The horse did all the work. He’s got small blinkers on so it’s just a matter of him feeling that other horse [coming on]. He’s a younger horse, too. You have to keep them alive and productive, and we did that – he did that. I didn’t do anything special today. It was an outside draw and it’s all about the horse.”
The rider said he thinks that the longer Flood Zone goes, the more proficient he will become.
“Going two turns, he’ll be even better in my opinion. He has very good tactical speed and he has gears to go the distance,” he said.
Gutierrez is a native of Rochester, New York and a SUNY-Cortland graduate who won his first race at Finger Lakes in 2017. Winning this graded stakes at Aqueduct was close to his heart.
“Winning in New York means everything to me. The emotion, especially here at Aqueduct with the Withers, the Gotham, the Wood Memorial, the Cigar Mile – they mean everything to me,” Gutierrez said. “Being a New York guy this is one of the best wins of my career amongst the Grade 1s and 2s just because it’s New York. For me, riding in New York, there’s nothing better.”
Sand Devil, the 1.45 favorite in the field for trainer Linda Rice, stumbled at the start but recovered to put up a spirited fight before coming up short, though still picking up 25 Derby points.
“Well, he gave me a good race” said jockey Jose Lezcano. “He broke a little awkwardly. I think he still gave me a very good race. I think he’ll be a bit better next time, let’s see what happens. I had to rush a little bit with my position, and he still gave me a good race.”
Rice said she was pleased with the effort from the previously undefeated New York-bred stakes winner.
“It wasn’t exactly the trip we thought that we would get,” Rice said. “We thought we would stalk off of it, but we stumbled at the break, and I think Jose had to get him underway then. But I thought he ran a good race.”
It looks as though the Wood Memorial, which awards 100-50-25-15-10 Kentucky Derby points, may be Sand Devil’s next start on April 5 here.
“Frankly, as far as I’m concerned, we will head towards the Wood,” Rice said.
Flood Zone upped his earnings to $203,800 with the $165,000 winner’s share of the purse and improved his record to 3 2-1-0. He was bred in Florida by Al Figliola WestburyStables and was sold at the OBS June 2-Year-Olds and HRA Sale for $45,000 last year.
Live racing resumes Sunday at the Big A with a nine-race card featuring the $125,000 Correction in Race 2. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
