Stimulate lives up to potential with Dwyer victory
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ELMONT, N.Y. − It may have taken Bill Mott only a week to potentially fill the void in his barn left by the retirements of Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Sovereignty and his Grade 1-winning stablemate Knightsbridge.
Stimulate, a lightly-raced 3-year-old, for whom expectations were always high, met his potential in a big way Saturday afternoon at Belmont Park, running away from his opposition − including previously undefeated champion Ted Noffey − to win the $200,000 Dwyer Stakes by 7 1/2 lengths. Sea Strike, the 6-5 favorite, finished second by 1 1/2 lengths over Igniter.
Bravaro was fourth, followed by Ted Nofffey, White Smoke Rising, Overtime Rules, and Mailata. Stop the Car and Decisive Win both scratched.
For Stimulate, the decisive win was a rebound from a disappointing third-place finish behind Plutarch in the $300,000 Bourbon Flight Stakes, a two-turn race at Churchill Downs on Sept. 26. That defeat, by 7 3/4 lengths, seemed more surprising to Mott than did Saturday’s blow-out victory.
“I’m just totally confused at the race at Churchill,” Mott said. “I don’t know. I can’t figure it out. There was no stopping him today.”
Given Stimulate’s pedigree − he’s by Tapit out of the Grade 1 Alabama winner Elate − Mott was sure Stimulate would relish the two turns of the Bourbon Flight. Confused afterward, he decided to back him up to the one-turn mile of the Dwyer.
“I thought two turns is what he would want,” Mott said. “All his three wins have been at one turn.”
In the Dwyer, Stimulate broke running, but jockey Junior Alvarado eased him slightly back while Bravaro and White Smoke Rising went at it through a quarter of 22.98 seconds and a half-mile in 45.63. After racing outside of Overtime Rules, about two lengths off the leaders, Alvarado moved Stimulate into third position, three wide entering the far turn.
In the stretch, Stimulate moved ahead of Bravaro and White Smoke Rising pretty much on his own but when Sea Strike began to run at Stimulate, Alvarado shook his horse up and Stimulate spurted clear and continued on for the facile victory.
“Very impressive, no surprise though,” Alvarado said. “We had to get through some mental problems with him when he was younger, he was very headstrong. Today, he showed what we thought he could do. He broke very sharp, he wanted to go at the beginning, but he let me settle him. The whole way, he felt like a winner to me.”
Stimulate, owned by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, covered the mile in a solid 1:33.64 and returned $20.56 to win.
Meanwhile, Ted Noffey, the 2-year-old champion of 2025, suffered his first defeat in his fifth career start, his first in 53 weeks. John Velazquez said Ted Noffey just ran evenly all the way around the track, ultimately beaten 12 1/2 lengths.
“He’s probably rusty off the long layoff,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “Johnny said he put him in a good position, he was traveling pretty well, he kind of finished evenly. He couldn’t find that burst late. It was a fast run race, he galloped out pretty good, [Velazquez] had a tough time pulling him up over there. He said he just didn’t quicken when he needed him to.
“Anytime you have an undefeated 2-year-old champion you want to win but we were also realistic that he hasn’t run in 13 months,” Pletcher added. “This is a difficult assignment to come back in.”
Future plans for both Stimulate and Ted Noffey are pending. Mott said the Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 30 at Gulfstream was mentioned as a goal for Stimulate but that was before the Churchill dud. Given Stimulate’s performance on Saturday at Belmont, the Pegasus could be revisited.
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