Litfin's review: Winners start on or near lead on fast main track
The fast main track was in use for seven of the day’s 12 races, and most winners were on the lead or up close early, beginning with a good-looking allowance score by Pazolini (race 1, $4.20), a pricey ($875,000) Godolphin Racing colt who stalked two lengths off pacesetter Chapman and rolled by for a first-level allowance score; the 4-year-old Bernardini colt is now 2 for 2 this season for Kiaran McLaughlin.
The only horse to rally successful from the rear was Catron (third, $6.40), who was last of five as a hotly contested pace developed down the backstretch and swept past the spent leaders on the outside. Catron clearly benefited from a “fast-slow” race shape, as the quarter-mile splits of the 1 1/16-mile route were 22.50 seconds, 22.62, 25.33, and 26.01.
A tale of two turf courses
You don’t want to go overboard on a small sampling, but speed was good on the inner turf Saturday, but on the Widener course, not so much. Both were labeled good after some significant mid-week rain that had delayed their initial use by two days.
Both races on the inner were won in wire-to-wire fashion, including Five Iron (race 10, $41.40) in the Grade 3 Fort Marcy Stakes, who built an eight-length lead midway down the backstretch and had enough left to keep Summer Front at bay late.
“It probably looked like he ran off, but I had him,” said Mike Luzzi. “When we got that far in front, at the three-eighths pole, I said, ‘Might as well get away now and not wait for them to catch me.’ It worked out.”
All three winners on the Widener rallied from the rear half of the field, highlighted by Waterway Run (race 8, $6.60) in the Grade 3 Beaugay Stakes for Chad Brown and Jose Lezcano.
“When she got in the clear, she showed the kick that she has,” said Brown. “The distance was key for her. A mile or a mile and a sixteenth is her game.”
Brown and Lezcano also teamed up to take the nightcap – and we do mean nightcap – with Pink Poppy ($5.40), who was 10th of 11 early before edging away late in a one-mile maiden race on the Widener.
Horses to watch
WARRIOR’S CROWN
Trainer: Bill Mott
Last race: May 3, race 1
Finish: Second by 2 3/4
Beyer:
Making his first allowance start and first since a maiden win here last fall, this 4-year-old Kinsman Farm homebred finished willingly in a useful effort against Pazolini, a pricey ($875K) runner from Godolphin Racing who was the 11-10 favorite off a big-figure maiden win.