Performance of the Week: Clearly Now

Although an admirably consistent performer for muc h of the season, Clearly Now had become his own worst enemy by failing to switch leads when the money was on the line.

In his four races preceding last Saturday’s Grade 3 Bold Ruler Handicap at Belmont, Clearly Now compiled a 0-3-1 record. During that stretch, he earned $173,638 and placed in three graded stakes while beaten merely a combined two lengths.

Going into the Bold Ruler, trainer Brian Lynch felt that something needed to be done in order to get Clearly Now over the hump.

“We thought if we could adjust something to get him to switch [leads], it would make a difference,” Lynch told track publicity after the Bold Ruler. “We started breezing him in blinkers, and you could just see that that was the ticket.”

The seven-furlong Bold Ruler featured Strapping Groom, a Grade 1 winner at Saratoga who projected as the main speed under Junior Alvarado. The rest of the field had solid credentials, with multiple Grade 2 winner Forty Tales, multiple stakes winners Big Screen and Politicallycorrect, and Grade 3-placed Saturday’s Charm all logical contenders.

Clearly Now broke a half-length slowly, but his jockey Jose Lezcano realized that he simply could not allow Strapping Groom to get away with murder on the front end. Lezcano sent Clearly Now up to prompt the pacesetter while three wide, and they went after Strapping Groom turning for home. Clearly Now moved to Strapping Groom’s flank, and, voila, Clearly Now changed leads on cue. He blew by the leader, opened up on the field, and had plenty left to deny Forty Tales’s late bid. Clearly Now stopped the timer in 1:21.52 and received a career-best 108 Beyer Speed Figure.

Clearly Now is one of two graded stakes winners from the first crop of Claiborne stallion Horse Greeley. The other, Really Mr Greely, took the Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue Stakes in 2012. Horse Greeley won 2 of 6 starts, including the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity at seven furlongs as a juvenile in 2006.

Clearly Now’s dam, Bend (by Arch), was three times stakes placed routing (twice on turf). The second dam, Stint (by Wild Again), was stakes placed sprinting on dirt at Fair Grounds. The third dam, Hitch (by Cox’s Ridge), scored three stakes and earned more than $425,000.

Bred by Claiborne Farm, Clearly Now was foaled in Kentucky on May 9, 2010. Consigned to the following September’s Keeneland yearling auction, Clearly Now was purchased for $30,000 by Up Hill Stable.

Clearly Now began his career with a flourish, winning his first two starts, both at six furlongs, last fall over the Woodbine Polytrack. In that second start, an entry-level allowance on Nov. 3, he bested Black Hornet (now a multiple stakes winner) and My Name Is Michael (now Grade 3 placed).

The only two subpar races on Clearly Now’s card came in two-turn routes. He set the pace in the $150,000 Display Stakes at 1 1/16 miles over Polytrack on Dec. 1 only to falter to third in the stretch.

The following month, in his 3-year-old debut, Clearly Now finished a well-beaten third behind the good 3-year-old Itsmyluckyday and champion 2-year-old Shanghai Bobby in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on dirt at Gulfstream.

Turning back to seven furlongs in the Grade 3 Swale Stakes, Clearly Now tracked the leaders while three wide and in between horses. He made a four-wide bid turning for home and wore down the leaders, despite failing to change leads.

Lynch resisted the temptation to place Clearly Now back on the Kentucky Derby trail and kept his colt in sprints. In the Grade 3 Bay Shore Stakes going seven furlongs at Aqueduct on April 6, Clearly Now dueled for the early lead while three wide. He dispatched of his two main pace threats, but didn’t change leads in the stretch and was outfinished by the in-form Declan’s Warrior. That race produced three next-out winners.

Freshened for two months, Clearly Now returned on Belmont Stakes Day in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens Stakes at seven furlongs. He ran a blinder that day as he raced close to a scorching pace. As the pacesetters faltered badly, Clearly Now was still running. He was beaten only three-quarters of a length by deep closers Forty Tales and Declan’s Warrior. The seventh-place finisher, Capo Bastone, returned to win the Grade 1 King’s Bishop Stakes at Saratoga.

Clearly Now made his turf debut in a one-turn mile at Woodbine on July 6 and was placed second via disqualification after finishing a half-length behind Golden Sabre (now 3 for 3 on turf).

In the final start before the Bold Ruler, the six-furlong, Grade 3 Gallant Bob Stakes at Parx Racing, Clearly Now made a strong wide bid but was outfinished by the rail-skimming longshot City of Weston.

The Bold Ruler was Clearly Now’s first start against older horses, and he handled them without much fuss. He seems more focused in blinkers, and his versatile running style allows his rider a wide range of options once the gate opens.

After the Bold Ruler, Lynch mentioned that Clearly Now would be pointed to a 4-year-old campaign. Graded stakes races at Gulfstream seem likely, and Clearly Now should definitely be followed in those events.