Pletcher, Irad Ortiz team up to win Kitten's Joy, Sweetest Chant
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Todd Pletcher and the red-hot Irad Ortiz Jr. swept the twin turf stakes for 3-year-olds Saturday at Gulfstream Park with favorites when Major Dude powered to victory in the Grade 3 Kitten’s Joy and Cairo Consort somehow was able to overcome a terrible start in the Grade 3 Sweetest Chant.
Ortiz, who equaled the record for most wins on a single Gulfstream card when booting home an unprecedented seven winners in a row Friday, won three races Saturday, with his ride on Cairo Consort being particularly noteworthy. Cairo Consort threw her head just as her eight opponents were springing from the gate, costing her a good five or six lengths.
“After that I just tried to save some ground and get her back in the race, and she did it,” said Ortiz.
“She really came with a great late run today,” said Pletcher, who saddled a total of four winners on the 12-race card.
Cairo Consort, owned by Town and Country Racing and Repole Stable, returned $6.40 after finishing 1 1/16 miles in 1:40.95 over a course rated “good.” It was her second straight stakes victory, following the Jan. 7 Ginger Brew. Pletcher assumed the training of the gray Cairo Prince filly following a third-place finish in November in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Cairo Consort was given an 81 Beyer Speed Figure.
Alpha Belle, also trained by Pletcher, forged to the front in deep stretch in the Sweetest Chant and finished three-quarters of a length behind her stablemate in second. Heavenly Sunday was third and Metaphysical was fourth.
The next local stakes for 3-year-old turf fillies is the Grade 3, $200,000 Herecomesthebride on the March 4 Fountain of Youth undercard, although Pletcher said he “might think about” running Cairo Consort next on the dirt.
About an hour earlier, Pletcher and Ortiz were together in the winner’s circle with Major Dude after the bay Bolt d’Oro colt tripped out perfectly and closed swiftly down the center of the course. Candidate was second, 1 1/2 lengths behind the winner and a neck before Dude N Colorado, a second Pletcher trainee who led from the start before yielding at the furlong grounds.
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“I had a perfect trip,” said Ortiz. “I took a little hold following some nice horses, saving ground the whole way. He did the rest.”
Major Dude, owned by Spendthrift Farm, returned $4.80 in a field of eight colts after finishing in 1:40.22 and getting a 90 Beyer Speed Figuere. He now has won three of seven starts, with the Grade 2 Pilgrim at Aqueduct in October being his most notable prior score.
In effect, Major Dude turned the tables on Candidate, the 2-1 second choice. When they last met on Jan. 7, Candidate was a wire-to-wire winner of the Dania Beach while Major Dude was unable to overcome a slow pace and closed belatedly for second.
The next local divisional stakes is the $200,000 Palm Beach on Fountain of Youth Day.
Ortiz’s other Saturday win also came for Pletcher when King’s Fortune captured race 5, a two-turn maiden-special on Tapeta. It was one of three earlier races transferred from the turf and held on the synthetic because of overnight rain. Pletcher’s fourth win came with Tapit Trice in race 8, a first-level allowance for 3-year-olds.
Ortiz, incidentally, will be idle Sunday through next Saturday when he serves a five-day suspension stemming from a riding infraction in the third race here Jan. 22. The four-time Eclipse champion jockey holds a comfortable lead atop the local standings with 49 wins at the championship meet, which began Dec. 26.
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