Slipstream catches Run Curtis Run in Futurity
ELMONT, N.Y. - Slipstream overcame a difficult trip to run by pacesetting Run Curtis Run and win the Grade 3, $150,000 Futurity Stakes by one length at Belmont Park on Sunday.
Steadied back to last by Joel Rosario when things got tight soon after the start, and then forced to steady again around the far turn, Slipstream found running room turning for home, came off the rail in midstretch and overtook Run Curtis Run in deep stretch to get the win.
Run Curtis Run held second by a half-length over Biz Biz Buzz. Midnight Worker was fourth, followed by Poppy Flower, Chi Town Lady - the even-money favorite - Kavod and Ready to March.
While the Futurity is designated a “Win and You’re In” race for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, Christophe Clement, trainer of Slipstream, said he would point his 2-year-old to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf going a mile at Del Mar on Nov. 5. Clement feels the five furlongs of the Turf Sprint is not ideal for Slipstream.
“I always like when you go to California just pushing the sprinter’s speed from six furlongs to a mile, I’m okay with it,” Clement said. “Maybe it doesn’t work, but we’ll give it a try.”
Slipstream could be a factor in the Juvenile Turf. He won a seven-furlong maiden race on the front end, but showed Sunday that he could be effective from off the pace, too. Rosario said that he was trying to get Slipstream into third early on, but he was pinched back by the combination of Kavod and Biz Biz Buzz tightening things up early. Slipstream threw his head in the air and Rosario had to grab him to get him settled.
“He broke fine and then it got a little tight right away in there and I had to ride him in a different style than I was planning on,” Rosario said.
Clement expected Slipstream to be closer to the pace, but was okay with the way things worked out.
“I love the way he finished,” Clement said.
Slipstream, a son of More Than Ready owned by Steve Ducker’s Jump Sucker Stable, covered the six furlongs in 1:08.36 over firm turf and returned $6.20 as the second choice. Slipstream received an 80 Beyer Speed Figure.
Meanwhile, trainer Wesley Ward’s decision to scratch the fillies Poppy Flower and Chi Town Lady from Saturday’s Matron to run in Sunday’s Futurity did not pan out. Chi Town Lady broke to the outside under John Velazquez and never really got involved, finishing sixth, 4 1/4 lengths back. Poppy Flower made a move into contention at the quarter pole but flattened out.
“She didn’t break, went to the outside, I tried to put her into the game, nothing,” Velazquez said of Chi Town Lady’s race. “I had to take her back, put her behind horses and that’s the way she ran. She didn’t put out any effort.”