Magnitude dominates the Razorback, Coady Media
Robert Yates
Goodbye Hot Springs, hello Dubai.
Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Magnitude, under confident handling from Jose Ortiz, raced to an easy victory in the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses Saturday at Oaklawn.
An estimated crowd of 32,500 watched Magnitude, the 4-5 favorite, cruise home by 3 ¾ lengths over game front-runner Nu What’s New. It was 3 ¼ lengths farther back to third-place finisher Gould’s Gold, who was followed, in order, by Echo Again, Woodcourt and Sandman. Tap Into This, a stablemate of Magnitude, was scratched, reducing the starting field to six for the 1 1/16-mile race.
Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Magnitude was making his 4-year-old debut after a minor illness scratched a planned trip to Saudi Arabia for the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) Feb. 14.
Rerouted to Oaklawn, Asmussen was using the Razorback as a prep for the $12 million Dubai World Cup (G1) March 28 in the United Arab Emirates. Magnitude hadn’t started since beating older horses in the Clark Stakes (G2) at 1 1/8 miles Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs.
Nu What’s New, as expected, went straight to the front, but Magnitude was glued to his flank through solid fractions of :23.68 for the opening quarter-mile, :47.38 for a half-mile and 1:11.28 for 6 furlongs. Magnitude took the lead on the outside turning for home and drew off late, covering 1 1/16 miles in a meet-best 1:42.10. The track was fast.
Magnitude paid $3.60, $2.80 and $2.10. Nu What’s Nu, who was making his stakes debut after two front-running blowout victories earlier in the meeting, paid $3 and $2.20. Gould’s Gold paid $2.60.
Magnitude’s appearance in the Razorback came nine years after Gun Runner opened his 4-year-old campaign with a dazzling 5 ¾-length victory in the race for Asmussen and Winchell Thoroughbreds (Ron and Joan Winchell).
The Razorback was also Plan B for Gun Runner, who won the Clark in his final start at 3 and had been scheduled to make his 2017 debut in the $12 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park. Gun Runner missed that race, his scheduled prep for the Dubai World Cup, because he was stuck at Fair Grounds following an outbreak of equine herpesvirus.
Gun Runner finished second in the Dubai World Cup, his only loss in what would be a 2017 Horse of the Year campaign. His winning time in the Razorback was 1:40.97.
Magnitude, a son of white-hot sire Not This Time, raised his career earnings to $1,584,365 following his sixth victory from 12 starts. In addition to the Clark, Magnitude won the Risen Star Stakes (G2) and Iowa Derby last year.
Racing resumes Sunday at noon CST with 12 races, highlighted by the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) and $750,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3).
Razorback Quotes
Winning Jockey Jose Ortiz (Magnitude): “Beautiful. Great to see him today making his 4-year-old debut. I think the pace was fast and the closers couldn’t even get close. I think the other horse (Nu What’s New) ran a very good race as well. Today, I think he was stepping up a lot in competition. There’s not much to say. It was beautiful to see. He broke well, relaxed and he punched home.”
Winning Trainer Steve Asmussen (Magnitude): “Horse has always had a tremendous amount of talent, but I think today is his best performance to date.”
Second-Place Jockey Rafael Bejarano (Nu What’s New): “He broke beautiful on the lead, but the winner (Magnitude) was on top of me the whole way. He (Jose Ortiz) knew that I was going to slow down the pace. He was on top of me. It was the only shot we had to beat him, if he let me get a couple of lengths in front and get him to relax. But the best horse beat me.”
Sixth-Place Jockey Cristian Torres (Sandman): “He was galloping around there. He broke well. He was traveling nice, honestly. He felt good. But when it was time to run, there was nothing.”
