Mitole gets back to winning ways in Forego

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mitole set a stakes record winning the Grade 1 Forego Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course in easy fashion, erasing the stain of a third-place finish in his last start that had broken an impressive seven-race win streak.

The win in the $600,000, seven-furlong Forego was the ninth of Mitole’s 13-race career, and the $320,000 share of the purse put the 4-year-old’s career earnings over the $2 million mark. Along the way, Mitole has embarrassed his competition, stretched out successfully to one-mile in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on the Belmont Stakes undercard on June 8, and created a legion of fans who admire the colt’s consistency.

The only true blemish in his record was his third-place finish in his last start, the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap on July 27 at Saratoga. But he had hit the gate at the break, and then was rushed up to try to catch the leaders. The six-furlong race was eventually won by Imperial Hint, who set a track record.

Steve Asmussen, the colt’s trainer, said he didn’t change anything up to get Mitole back to his winning ways.

“It was just the circumstances of the Vanderbilt, it just didn’t suit him,” Asmussen said. “[He was] coming off the huge win in the Met Mile, cutting back to three-quarters. But he came out of the race in good shape and trained beautifully for this, and the results speak for themselves.”

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Mitole won by three lengths at odds of 9-10. Firenze Fire finished second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Killybegs Captain, the longest shot in the field.

Sitting off a ridiculously slow first quarter in 23:05 seconds, Mitole kept pace with the leader, Promises Fulfilled, as they rounded the turn, but he then collared that horse at the top of the stretch and began extending his lead. He was never threatened in the stretch, although regular rider Ricardo Santana Jr. kept him to task into the eighth pole.

Mitole ran the second quarter in 22.53 seconds, the third quarter in 23.33, and the last furlong of the seven-furlong race in 11.89 to stop the clock at 1:20.80, beating the stakes record of 1:20.99 set in 2016 by A. P. Indian. The Forego has been run at seven furlongs 35 times.

“If he runs his normal thing for the first quarter, he breaks [the record],” said Bill Heiligbrodt, who owns Mitole with his wife Corinne.

Unfortunately for Mitole fans, the party is coming to an end. The Heiligbrodts recently reached a deal with Spendthrift Farm to stand the horse at the end of his career, and that end is likely going to be after the Breeders’ Cup this year, Heiligbrodt said.

“When Bill tells you he’s won over 1,000 races and this is the fastest horse he’s ever owned, you’ve got to have this horse,” said B. Wayne Hughes, who owns Spendthrift. Hughes was in the Forego winner’s circle with the colt’s connections.

Meanwhile, the Heiligbrodts are enjoying the ride.

“You wait about 30 years for one like this,” Bill Heiligbrodt said. “He’s a special horse. He’s so talented, he’s so fast. And we’re from Texas, so we like to see the dirt fly.”

“It’s great to see him back at the top of his game,” said Asmussen.