Arctic Beast lands easy victory in New York Breeders' Futurity
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Arctic Beast remained in beast mode, improving his career to a perfect 3-for-3 with a dominant 5 3/4-length victory in the $155,667 New York Breeders’ Futurity on Monday at Finger Lakes, one of the richest races for New York-bred 2-year-olds.
Arctic Beast ($2.10), who is trained by a Mike Maker for Paradise Farms, JP Racing Stable, David Staudacher, Zilla Racing Stables, and Jennifer Rice, was coming off a win in the local prep, last month’s Aspirant Stakes at Finger Lakes.
Arctic Beast’s trip as the heavy favorite under Ricardo Santana Jr. was completely uncomplicated in a short field of four. The colt sat in the three path, confidently handled by Santana under a long hold as Diamond Child set the pace. Arctic Beast breezed up on the outside of that foe, who came under a ride midway on the turn, was roused in upper stretch to take command, and widened under a hand ride in the final sixteenth. He finished the six furlongs in 1:11.47.
Party in the Army came on to overhaul a fading Diamond Child for second, with Hey Pal bringing up the rear. There was no show wagering.
The Monday card also included the $50,000 Genesee Valley Breeders’ Stakes and $50,000 Jack Betta Be Rite Stakes, both 1 1/16-mile races for older statebreds.
Cut the Cord ($3.44) cut the corner on the rail, then kept on to the wire for a 1 1/2-length win over Allure of Money in the Genesee Valley. Reylu Gutierrez, a local native, was aboard the gelding, who scored his first stakes win for Ilkay Kantarmaci.
In the sister race, Boxed Wine ($5.48), who had one horse beaten after a half-mile, rallied to win the Jack Betta Be Rite by 1 1/2 lengths going away, giving Santana a second stakes win on the card.
Boxed Wine, trained by Jorge Abreu, was coming off an allowance win at Saratoga.
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