Key-race win just one reason to give Top Recruit a long look in Champagne
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The decision by the connections of Hopeful Stakes winner Forte to opt for next Saturday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland appeared to leave jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. without a mount for Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne Stakes at Aqueduct.
He wasn’t without one very long.
Trainer Mike Maker scooped him up to ride Top Recruit, and that’s just another plus in the colt’s column for a seemingly wide-open Champagne.
Top Recruit, a son of Midshipman, is coming off a narrow victory in the Ellis Park Juvenile on Aug. 14. That win was noteworthy for several reasons. Top Recruit got passed in midstretch by Curly Jack only to come back and nip that one at the wire, with those two finishing nearly 15 lengths clear of the rest of the field. Curly Jack came back to win the Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs in his next start. Frosted Departure, fourth in the Ellis Park Juvenile, came back to win an allowance race by 9 1/4 lengths.
With rain in the forecast, there is the potential for an off track. While Top Recruit has never raced on anything but a fast track, his mother, Oh So Bella, won her maiden by 10 1/4 lengths in the mud.
Top Recruit is one of three stakes winners in the six-horse Champagne. Gulfport, trained by Steve Asmussen, won the Bashford Manor by 12 1/4 lengths at Churchill in July. He then finished second in both the Grade 2 Saratoga Special and Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga.
“Obviously, I was disappointed in getting him beat at Saratoga,” Asmussen said. “He’s a special horse. It’s time for him to show it.”
Jose Ortiz rides Gulfport from post 6.
Andiamo a Firenze, a New York-bred son of Speightstown, is a half-brother to 2017 Champagne winner Firenze Fire. He has defeated statebreds twice and finished third in Grade 3 Sanford, two lengths clear of Forte.
“We’re trying to teach him to rate and slow down so he’ll have a little bit more finish, then we drew the one hole,” trainer Kelly Breen said. “So, we’ll try to figure out what our strategy might be because it seems like there’s a lot of speed in there.”
Jose Lezcano has picked up the mount on Andiamo a Firenze.
Verifying and Champions Dream were both debut winners at Saratoga. Verifying, a half-brother to champion mare Midnight Bisou by Justify, won his maiden race on Travers Day, turning aside a challenge from Track Mate and drawing away late.
“I think he showed he has enough speed to be involved early,” trainer Brad Cox said. “That’s what you need in these 2-year-old races. Based on how he finished and galloped out, I think he’s going to appreciate more distance.”
Champions Dream, also a son of Justify, won the slowest of three divisions of a seven-furlong maiden race on Sept. 3 at Saratoga. He was sent off the 6-5 favorite against eight rivals. He has come back to fire a pair of bullet works at Saratoga.
“I thought he’d need a race, personally, but the clockers all liked him,” trainer Danny Gargan said. “He’s a really talented horse. He’s fast out of the gate, but he’s not a run-off.”
Blazing Sevens, a son of Good Magic trained by three-time Champagne winner Chad Brown, won his debut by 6 1/4 lengths at Saratoga, then finished third behind Forte and Gulfport in the slop in the Hopeful.
The Champagne, which offers its winner a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, goes as race 10 on Saturday’s 11-race card.
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