Privman rallies for first stakes win (Benoit Photo)
Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif.—After appearing to be beaten with a quarter-mile remaining, odds-on favorite Privman re-engaged under jockey Juan Hernandez and ran down pacesetter Pony Express to earn his first stakes win in Saturday’s Tokyo City Cup going one mile at Santa Anita.
Pony Express (8-5) and Privman (4-5) raced one-two through opening fractions of 22.71 and 45.79 seconds for a half mile. On the second turn, Privman looked to be weakening as Pony Express reached the quarter pole with a two-length advantage in 1:09.78. But Privman was not finished. He gradually inched closer to Pony Express through the lane and surged past that rival in the final 100 yards to win by three-quarters of a length.
“This horse has a lot of talent, but he’s still figuring out how to run,” Hernandez said. “On the (second) turn I was like ‘pick it up, pick it up,’ but he didn’t want to. I think this horse is smart. When we reached the top of the stretch and he switched leads, he took off. I had to work, but as soon as he decided to start making his run, he put it all together and ran past that horse.”
Trained by Bob Baffert, Privman won in a time of 1:36.21. The 3-year-old colt by Justify previously finished third in the GI Goodwood when making his stakes debut on Sept. 27 at Santa Anita.
“He’s a tricky horse to ride. He’s quirky,” Baffert said. “That horse in front us is a good horse. I thought he was gone. But then all of a sudden when Juan started getting after him, he just took off again. I thought it was over.”
Gaming, also trained by Baffert, finished 6 ¾ lengths back of Pony Express (8-5) in third.
Privman is owned by an extensive ownership group that includes SF Racing, Starlight Racing and Madaket Stables. He is named for retired Daily Racing Form correspondent Jay Privman. Prior to the Goodwood, Privman won a maiden race and first-level allowance at Del Mar, both going one mile. He is now 7: 3-3-1 with $230,278 in earnings.
“You can see he’s still got a little bit of immaturity to him but hey, he got to the wire first and he is only going to get better,” Jay Privman said. “It has really been a lot of fun.”
Privman paid $3.80 and $2.10. Pony Express, ridden by Umberto Rispoli for trainer John Sadler, returned $2.80.
$85,000 TOKYO CITY CUP STAKES QUOTES
Juan Hernandez, Jockey: “This horse has a lot of talent. But he’s still figuring out how to run. He was waiting for me to make my move, but then on the turn I was like pick it up, pick it up, but he didn’t want to. But I think this horse is smart. When we reached the top of the stretch and he switched leads, he took off. I had to work, but as soon as he decided to start making his run, he put it all together and ran past that horse.”
Bob Baffert, Trainer: “He’s a tricky horse to ride. He’s quirky. That horse in front us is a good horse. I thought he was gone. But then all of a sudden when Juan started getting after him, he just took off again. I thought it was over. He’s very talented. He’s getting better mentally but is just very quirky.”
Jay Privman, Privman, Namesake: “In all honesty, it was the patience of Bob Baffert. He knew that this horse was immature, he knew he needed more racing. At Del Mar this summer he really kind of figured it out. He won the maiden race; he won the allowance race, and he ran a respectable race in the Goodwood last time out. He came back and breezed unbelievable against Nevada Beach. You can see he’s still got a little bit of immaturity to him but hey, he got to the wire first and he is only going to get better. It has really been a lot of fun.”
