Recepta survives inquiry to win De La Rose

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Jimmy Toner was on his way to the winner’s circle after Recepta split horses and powered home 2 1/4 lengths in front of the field in Saturday’s $100,000 De La Rose Stakes.

Then he saw the inquiry sign was lit and jockey Junior Alvarado, on the runner-up Tuttipaesi, had claimed foul against John Velazquez and Recepta. Alvarado was forced to check sharply on his horse, but the video replay ultimately showed Tuttipaesi came out under his left-handed whip.

Still, there have been numerous disqualifications at this meet, including one in the race immediately preceding the De La Rose.

“He came into us, but he was so drastic the way he stood up, I was a little bit concerned about it until I saw the head-on,” Toner said. “I was fine after that.”

Toner was even finer after the stewards disallowed Alvarado’s foul claim and officially declared Recepta the winner of the De La Rose. Tuttipaesi, who basically had followed Recepta down the backstretch, finished second by a neck over A Little Bit Sassy. Had A Little Bit Sassy finished second, there’s a chance the stewards might have disqualified Recepta from first for costing her a placing.

Bill Mott, the trainer of Tuttipaesi, made it sound as if the stewards made the correct call.

“The horse interfered with us,” Mott said. “We had to check. Did it change the outcome? I can’t say that it did.”

The outcome gave Recepta her fourth win from 10 starts and second in a stakes race. As a 2-year-old, Recepta won the Chelsea Flower with Alvarado up. Her only win since came in an allowance at Keeneland in April with Velazquez up.

In the De La Rose, Velazquez had Recepta in fifth position and saving ground as Miss Frost was winging it on the front end, running a quarter in 22.82 seconds and a half-mile in 46.59 while being chased by Daring Kathy, the 3-2 favorite.

Turning into the stretch, Velazquez guided Recepta off the rail, and in midstretch, she split horses, while Alvarado kept Tuttipaesi on the fence and was able to get through.

Velazquez guided Recepta over a path perhaps but basically maintained a straight course after that, and she drew off for the win.

“I left plenty of room in there,” Velazquez said. “There was almost room for two horses in there, and he hit his left-handed, and he came to me.”

After A Little Bit Sassy, the order of finish was Ticking Katie, Nellie Cashman, Pink Poppy, Token of Love, Miss Frost, Daring Kathy, and Joint Return.

Recepta, a 4-year-old daughter of Speightstown, owned and bred by Phillips Racing Partnership, covered the mile in 1:34.02 and returned $8.30 as the second choice.

“You could see down the backside he was where he wanted to be,” Toner said. “It was just a question of when he wanted to go with her.”