Atreides tests deeper waters in Indiana Derby

There is almost certainly, at this time of year, no horse in Florida who can run with the 3-year-old colt Atreides, and so, unbeaten and essentially untested, it is out into the wider world Atreides goes.

On Thursday, Atreides was scheduled to board a plane and fly north, and when he settles into a stall again, it will be on the backstretch of Indiana Grand Casino and Racing, where Atreides could find his first real challenge Saturday in the Grade 2, $500,000 Indiana Derby.

Atreides is part of a solid group expected to start Saturday night, among his rivals the multiple graded stakes winner Vicar’s in Trouble, but no horse in the race, and few anywhere, carries the electricity of this colt.

Atreides, trained by Marty Wolfson for owner-breeder Stonestreet Stables, won his first start by more than five lengths, his second start by three, and his third – his stakes debut in the $75,000 Monarchos – by 17 1/2 lengths.

And he is not just pummeling the opposition while never appearing to be fully extended: Atreides is running fast. His Beyer Speed Figures are 105, 102, and 105, only the third time in Beyer history that a horse’s first three starts have produced triple-digit figures.

“It’s hard to tell after three starts what his upside might be,” Wolfson said. “He’s very athletic, very smart.”

Atreides’s path to budding star has not been ordinary. By Medaglia d’Oro, Atreides (uh-TRAY-i-dees) is the second foal to race out of the multiple Grade 1-winning sprinter Dream Rush, whose first foal to hit the track was Grade 1 winner Dreaming of Julia. Atreides was entered in the 2013 Keeneland September yearling auction but failed to meet a $335,000 reserve and went back to Stonestreet, which sent him along to its farm near Ocala, Fla., to be broken and put into training under Ian Brennan.

During the summer of his 2-year-old year, Atreides was sent to trainer Todd Pletcher, who worked him four times in July and August 2013 at Saratoga, but there, Atreides bucked shins, according to Brennan, who oversaw all the colt’s earliest lessons.

“He was pretty far along when it happened, and training well,” Brennan said. “I brought him home, and we pin-fired him, gave him 45 days, and put him back training. I got him up to a couple nice works, and I sent him to Palm Meadows.”

That was in December, and in January, Atreides, back with Pletcher, worked three times at the Palm Meadows training center, but once again, he wound back up at Stonestreet without racing.

“Todd said he didn’t handle the Palm Meadows surface at all,” said Brennan. “It was a deeper surface, and he just wasn’t working well on it, so I said, ‘Just send him back home.’ I put a few nice works in him and sent him to Gulfstream and Marty.”

Beginning in May, Atreides worked eight times for Wolfson, and after his 26th published workout, Atreides finally ran in a race on July 12. It was worth the wait.

“He’s a big, smooth, easy mover, and he got stronger as he developed,” Brennan said. “From December of last year, he’s been beautiful. He always worked super here on the farm. It hasn’t surprised me what he’s done.”

Wolfson has not trained many Stonestreet horses, but he has done extremely well when given the chance, compiling a 9-5-3 record with 21 Stonestreet starters. Wolfson doesn’t work horses fast (“If they go a half better than 49, it’s a good work,” he said.), and Atreides never has popped a bullet drill at the racetrack. Wolfson took him to the gate one time before he raced, and Atreides, breaking like a shot, went in a swift 35 seconds and change.

“He picks things up quick. Nothing frazzles him,” Wolfson said.

Atreides’s races support that assessment. In his six- and 6 1/2-furlong starts, Atreides raced on the pace through half-mile splits in 44 seconds and change, lightning-fast, but stretched out to a one-turn mile in the Monarchos, he relaxed behind a 47-second half-mile split and finished strong. That adaptability has Wolfson confident that Atreides can successfully transition to two-turn racing in the 1 1/16-mile Indiana Derby.

Stonestreet once campaigned another talented horse who made his career debut as a 3-year-old at Gulfstream – Curlin. Stonestreet bought Curlin privately out of that winning debut. Atreides, had he met his auction reserve, would have been sold by Stonestreet long before he ever raced. Curlin’s freakish natural talent eventually led to two Horse of the Year awards. For now, Atreides is a freakish natural talent, nothing more, but the talent is undeniable, and what it produces Saturday at Indiana Downs should be worth watching.

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Atreides was the second horse to record triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures in his first three starts. He was the third, after Lite the Fuse and Lost in the Fog.