City Man has little trouble with West Point

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – City Man punched the clock, put his head down, and got the job done. Again.

A 6-year-old son of Mucho Macho Man, City Man ran his record to 11 wins in 30 starts by making pretty easy work out of four others in the $200,000 West Point Stakes, including the up-and-coming favorite, Spirit of St Louis, who looked like he would be pointed to much bigger things if the West Point went his way.

Instead, Spirit of St Louis took second, as City Man extended his lead in the stretch to win the 1 1/16th-mile West Point by 1 1/4 lengths. Not exactly a thrashing, but …

The West Point was run as a handicap, and City Man was carrying highweight of 126 pounds, giving Spirit of St Louis eight pounds.

“He was the best horse by far,” said Christophe Clemente, City Man’s trainer.

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The narrative of the race is pretty standard stuff for a turf race around the track once. City Man, under Joel Rosario, tracked the leaders through decent fractions, pounced as they hit the stretch, and put to rest any doubts in the last sixteenth. Final time was 1:42.63.

City Man paid $7.90 to win as the second choice. It was his sixth win in a restricted stakes for New York-breds. Not that he’s not capable of bigger and better things. He was the highweight, in part, because he won the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 31. He also won the Grade 3 Forbidden Apple last year at Saratoga. He will probably win five or six more.

“Almost out of words for this horse,” said Dean Reeves, one of City Man’s co-owners. “Eleven wins, over a million dollars, stakes winner at two, three, four, five, and six and he has speed and stamina – that’s a tough combination to beat. He’s special to us and a gorgeous horse. It really is everything you want in a racehorse.”

New Ginya takes Yaddo Handicap

Clemente was back in the winner’s circle’s two races later with New Ginya, who used her deep closing capabilities to win the filly counterpart to the West Point, the $200,000 Yaddo Handicap, by 3 3/4 lengths.

New Ginya, a 4-year-old by Tonalist, won for the fourth time in 12 starts. She’s also finished second four times and third twice. The Yaddo was her first stakes win, and the victory stretched her earnings to $334,100.

Understandably, New Ginya was overlooked in the eight-horse Yaddo, considering the reputations of some of the fillies in the race, and she went off at 8.90-to-1. Whatlovelookslike, a 4-year-old English Channel filly out of Todd Pletcher’s barn, came into the Yaddo riding an impressive three-race win streak, and bettors made her the 6-5 favorite.

Whatlovelookslike hung off the enigmatic She’s Dancing as the latter led the field through a 48.90 first half-mile. She’s Dancing began to fade in the turn, at which point Flavien Prat confidently launched Whatlovelookslike to the lead as the rest of the field began kicking to catch up.

Meanwhile, New Ginya, last throughout the race and hugging the rail under Dylan Davis, swung wide and passed the entire field entering the stretch in the space of a sixteenth of a mile. She veered a bit to the left in the stretch, then straightened up and coasted to the wire listening to the accolades of track announcer Frank Mirahmadi.

Final time for 1 1/16-mile race was 1:43.06. Spungie was second at nearly 8-1, 2 3/4 lengths ahead of Runaway Rumour. Whatlovelookslike was fourth.

New Ginya was bred by Robert Evans, who sold the filly as a yearling at the Keeneland September sale for $25,000. Eight months later, he got a call from his adviser, who was at the Ocala sale in Florida. His adviser told him about a nice filly there. So what if Evans had bred her? So Evans bought her back. For $250,000.

“Mr. Evans is a nice man,” Clemente said in the winner’s circle. “He likes all his friends to do well.”

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