Rugbyman a 3-year-old with a future

ELMONT, N.Y. – As Bob Baffert has shown the last two years, not all talented 3-year-olds make it to the Triple Crown trail.

In Rugbyman, Graham Motion appears to have a 3-year-old that could be an intriguing member of the division this summer. On Sunday at Belmont, Rugbyman overcame a slow start to gallop to a 14-length maiden victory going a mile. Under Jose Ortiz, he covered the distance over a muddy track in 1:36.71 and earned an 88 Beyer Speed Figure.

Rugbyman, owned and bred by Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, is by Tapit out of the Grade 1-winning mare Zaftig. He finished second going seven furlongs in his debut at Keeneland, breaking slowly before weaving his way through traffic and then galloping out past the field.

On Sunday he rushed up into second position after the slow break, put away Dominant Strategy, and splashed home an easy winner.

“When he broke so badly I was surprised [in] less than a sixteenth of a mile he made his way to the front,” Motion said. “He tends to be a step slow. I think he drug Jose up there, to be honest.”

One potential next start for Rugbyman could be the Easy Goer Stakes for 3-year-olds on the June 9 Belmont Stakes undercard. Last year, that race was won by West Coast, who would go on to win the Travers and Pennsylvania Derby and be crowned 3-year-old champion.

Motion said he planned to keep Rugbyman at Belmont Park to train with the Easy Goer in mind.

“He gets to run against 3-year-olds, which is going to be hard to do if you ran him in an allowance race,” Motion said. “Without getting too clever about it, there are a lot of reasons to consider it.”

Voodoo Song may try Kingston

The resiliency Voodoo Song displayed at Saratoga last summer in winning four races in 43 days was on display again Saturday at Belmont Park.

Voodoo Song, cutting back to seven furlongs after racing around two turns throughout most of his career, fended off the highly regarded and previously undefeated American Guru to win an allowance race by a nose.

Trainer Linda Rice said her only options for Voodoo Song were at seven furlongs or 1 1/2 miles, so seven furlongs was “the obvious choice.”

“I was getting a lot of criticism about it before the race,” Rice said. “I thought Voodoo put in a gutsy effort.”

Voodoo Song, who earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure, will be pointed to the $125,000 Kingston Stakes for New York-breds going a mile on turf May 28.

“It’s back a little soon, but he’s done that well before,” Rice said.