Marconi breaks through in Skip Away

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Despite an impressive pedigree and a big pricetag, Marconi had come up small in his first six starts, winning just one.

The main hope his connections had was that Marconi would get better as he got older and as he had the opportunity to run longer distances.

Friday, Marconi broke through with his first stakes victory, persevering through the stretch under Luis Saez to win the $100,000 Skip Away Stakes by a half-length over Sir Anthony at Gulfstream Park. It was a neck back to Realm in third. The Scotsman was fourth followed by Rocketry, the 6-5 favorite, Zulu, and Biblical.

Marconi, a son of Tapit and a half-brother to multiple Grade 1 winner Mucho Macho Man, brought $2 million as a yearling at the 2016 Keeneland September auction. He was purchased by Bridlewood Farm and the Coolmore connections of Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith.

Marconi won a 1 1/8-mile maiden race in his second start at 2. Marconi went winless in three starts at 3 before being sent to the sidelines following the Blue Grass Stakes.

In his 4-year-old debut, at a mile, Marconi finished fourth. Trainer Todd Pletcher knew that distance would be too short for him, but “we needed to get his season started,” he said.

The race seemed to wake Marconi up. Though he broke a step slow on Friday, Marconi quickly recovered and was an up-close third, within two lengths of pacesetting The Scotsman, who ran a half-mile in 49.97 seconds, while pursued by Realm.

Approaching the top of the stretch, Sir Anthony tried to sneak through the inside while Marconi was four wide.

Sir Anthony had to work hard to get by Realm, but Marconi kept coming and was able to get up late.

“He’s a big horse, he takes a while to get going, so I think the distance was perfect for him,” Saez said.

Marconi covered the 1 3/16-miles in 1:56.30 and returned $11 to win.

“He’s been training a little sharper, we always felt stretching him out a little bit would help,” said Pletcher, who won the Skip Away for the fifth time. “I was happy to see him put himself in a good striking position with the slow fractions, and he kept coming.”

Pletcher said he would look at longer-distance races such as the Flat Out going 1 3/8 miles at Belmont on May 3 and the Grade 2, $400,000 Brooklyn Invitational going 1 1/2 miles on June 8.