Early Voting makes it look easy in Withers Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Early Voting turned what looked on paper to be a competitive, 11-horse race into a one-horse affair, taking the lead soon after the start under Jose Ortiz and cruising to a 4 1/2-length victory in the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct on Saturday.

Un Ojo, a New York-bred with only one eye, rallied from last to get second by a head over Gilded Age. Grantham was fourth, followed by Noneedtoworry, Smarten Up, Courvoisier, Cooke Creek, Mr Jefferson, Unbridled Bomber, and Constitutionlawyer.

It was the second win from as many starts for Early Voting, who had won a one-mile maiden race here Dec. 18. Early Voting is a son of Gun Runner owned by Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables and trained by Chad Brown. Klarman and Brown won last year’s Withers with Risk Taking.

The victory earned Early Voting 10 qualifying points toward the May 7 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Whether Early Voting will have the necessary seasoning to compete in that race remains to be seen. But he certainly didn’t do anything Saturday to discourage his connections from trying.

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“Right now, with a horse like this, who wins like this, you have to think about the Derby,” Brown said from Florida.

Breaking from post 9 in the 11-horse field, Early Voting was hustled out of the gate by Ortiz, who was up from South Florida specifically to ride this horse in the Withers. Ortiz said the plan was to sit off Constitutionlawyer, whom Ortiz pegged as the speed from the rail.

“But the way he broke, he got two lengths in front of everybody going to the first turn, I wasn’t going to take that away from him,” Ortiz said. “He broke good, he relaxed, he put the ears up - you could see he was very relaxed the whole time.”

Early Voting had a length advantage after an opening quarter in 23.57 seconds. He widened the lead to two lengths after a half-mile in 48.04, a 3 1/2 length advantage after six furlongs in 1:14.29 and he came to the eighth pole with a 6 1/4-length lead.

Ortiz went to his left-handed whip when Early Voting drifted to the rail, if only because the outside paths were preferred over a harrowed, muddy track.

“Going to the quarter pole he got too close to the rail, I did not want to be there; he got a little bit immature,” Ortiz said. “That’s why I went left-handed. I knew I was clear so I took him out three or four paths - that’s where I wanted him. I had to keep calling his attention, when he’s by himself he likes to look around, but he was pretty focused the whole stretch.”

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On a track that wasn’t yielding particularly fast times, Early Voting covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:55.90 and returned $4.90 as the heavy 6-5 favorite. Early Voting was given a 78 Beyer Speed Figure.

“He’s a talented horse, he is an inexperienced horse, you have to take that into account when you watch him in his races where he’s comfortably in front,” said Brown, noting that the horse may appear to be tiring.

Brown said it was too early to pick out a next spot for Early Voting, but said the horse would remain at Belmont Park, where he seems to be thriving in the mornings. If he makes his next start at Aqueduct, Early Voting’s options would be the Grade 3 Gotham, which would mean cutting back to a one-turn mile, on March 5, or the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at 1 1/8 miles on April 9.