Accelerize becomes graded stakes winner with Louisiana
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Accelerize aced his stakes debut, winning the Grade 3, $175,000 Louisiana Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds by a neck, denying odds-on favorite Just a Touch an overdue first stakes victory.
Accelerize broke alertly under Flavien Prat, had company from longshot Tarantino through moderate splits of 23.93 and 47.14, and opened a clear lead when Tarantino dropped back quickly at the three-furlong marker. His challenge came from Just a Touch, who broke poorly from post 8, lost precious ground racing four wide around the first turn, continued wide while progressing on the second bend, and drew nearly abreast of Accelerize after cornering for home.
Just a Touch, the 4-5 favorite, is a 5-year-old who was making his 10th start, twice Grade 1-stakes placed but winless in five stakes starts before the Louisiana. Accelerize, in from Florida for trainer Todd Pletcher, is a 4-year-old who was racing for just the fourth time while making his two-turn debut. And while Just a Touch might have poked his head in front at the sixteenth pole, Accelerize repelled him, pushing back to win by a neck.
“He showed that he has some fight in him,” said Prat, who rode Accelerize for the first time.
Cadet Corps, a 36-1 chance deftly spotted by trainer Kelly Breen, finished a closing third, just a neck behind Just a Touch, before galloping out well in front. The well-bet second-choice Moonlight was held up in last, far behind the leaders, and could muster only a mild run when finally asked to go at the quarter pole.
Accelerize ran 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:43.33 and paid $19 as the fifth choice.
Pletcher sent two horses to Fair Grounds from his Palm Beach Downs base in Florida and came away with two wins, Accelerize following the 3-year-old Jackson Hole, who won a dirt-route allowance race – surely a steppingstone to a stakes try – early on the card.
Pletcher trains Accelerize for Spendthrift Farm and Repole Stable. Spendthrift bred the colt, a son of Omaha Beach and the Take Charge Indy mare Motion Emotion, and Repole was listed as the $400,000 buyer when Accelerize went through the sales ring as a yearling. The colt’s career began with a bang, Accelerize winning a Tampa Bay Downs maiden sprint last March by more than seven lengths with a flashy 92 Beyer Speed Figure. But Accelerize never worked back following that start and didn’t race again until November, finishing third in a Gulfstream one-turn-mile, first-level allowance before clearing the condition last month.
Pletcher made a fairly bold move sending a lightly raced horse lacking stakes seasoning to the Louisiana -- and made the right move. Accelerize clearly improved in his first route, outfooting several pace rivals while showing he could sustain his pace.
“On paper it looked like there was a lot of speed, but my horse came from a shorter distance and showed some speed as well,” said Prat, who was winning his third race during his first trip to Fair Grounds this meet. “It looks like a pretty bright future for him.”
Forget about the future. Accelerize, surprisingly, became a graded-stakes winner Saturday at Fair Grounds.
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