Requite comes back like gangbusters
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer George Weaver took his time getting the promising Requite back to the races. But the wait was worth it.
Making his first start since finishing a distant fourth behind Competitive Edge in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes eight months earlier, Requite rallied to a 3 1/2-length optional-claiming victory on Saturday under jockey Eddie Castro for his second victory in three career starts. Despite a wide trip, Requite covered the six furlongs in 1:09.92 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 86.
“He’s so talented,” Weaver said. “I told Eddie not to worry about it if he breaks a little slow. It wouldn’t matter. He can rate behind horses and, actually, coming away a bit flatfooted probably helped because he wound up in the garden spot. I think 1:09 and change is pretty good over this track; it looks a little dry to me.”
A son of Warrior’s Reward, Requite launched his career defeating Two Weeks Off, the third-place finisher in Saturday’s Peter Pan, by 3 1/2 lengths when the pair debuted in a loaded maiden special weight race last summer at Saratoga. Then came the Hopeful.
“He came back and had a huge ulcer in his eye after the Hopeful, although I don’t like making excuses,” Weaver said. “We were pointing for the Champagne after that, but I was unhappy with the way he was going, so we just stopped on him at that point.”
Weaver said Requite is a candidate for the seven-furlong Woody Stephens at Belmont Park on June 6.
“I’m not sure what his distance limits may be,” he said. “I think he’ll go further, but we’ll just move him up gradually for now.”
The one horse Weaver said he was afraid of prior to Requite’s race on Saturday was Chepstow, who finished third after an unlucky trip. Weaver said he feared him because of the hot streak of his trainer, Kirk Ziadie.
Ziadie had already won three races on the card and with 13 of his previous 16 starters dating to April 11. Ziadie, who sits atop the local standings, had only one of those 16 starters finish worse than third.