Unbeaten Rated by Merit earns a breather with In Reality romp
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After completing his juvenile campaign undefeated and virtually untested, and with a sweep of the Florida Sire Series on what is already a very imposing résumé, Rated by Merit is going to get a bit of a rest.
Trainer Michael Yates said Monday that Rated by Merit came out of his 6 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile In Reality Stakes in good order and that he will stick to the plan mapped out prior to the race to give him a little break before setting out on the road to the Kentucky Derby later in the meet.
“We’re going to freshen him up a little, keep him in training here but take him off the work tab for the next 30 days or so,” Yates advised. “So far he seems to be doing quite well out of the race. In fact I believe the seven-eighths race [Affirmed] might have been a little harder on him than this one at a mile and one-sixteenth, which is a good sign considering it was fairly obvious the racetrack wasn’t a really fast racetrack on Saturday.”
Rated by Merit received a 93 Beyer Speed Figure for his effort while trying two turns for the first time in the In Reality. That marks the fourth time in as many starts the homebred son of Battalion Runner, who is owned by Vinnie and Teresa Viola’s St. Elias Stable, has earned a Beyer number in the 90s, with the 99 he received for his similarly easy victory in the Affirmed six weeks earlier the highest recorded by any 2-year-old in North America in 2024.
“I haven’t really talked to Vinnie since the race,” said Yates. “His daughter had a baby a couple of days before the In Reality, which is why he and his wife were not here Saturday. Right now the only thing that is certain is we will use the Florida Derby as our point to work backwards from this winter. That gives us several options to choose from once I get him back to the track and see how he’s moving and handling things later this week.”
Those options would include the Grade 3 Holy Bull on Feb. 1 and the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on March 1, the traditional local preps for the $1 million Florida Derby on March 29. Rated by Merit could also return in a first-level optional-claiming and allowance race which excludes wins in maiden and restricted races from eligibility.
Yates admitted it’s hard for him not to start thinking a little ahead, to the Kentucky Derby, considering what Rated by Merit has accomplished to this point in his career.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wake up with [Derby Fever] every day,” said Yates. “It certainly gives you something to look forward to having a horse like this to come in to see in the barn every morning.
Turf feature wide open
Yates should also figure prominently in Thursday’s $43,000 optional-claiming and allowance feature when sending out Themanupfront among the key contenders in the 7 1/2-furlong turf event restricted to Florida-breds.
The race is wide open on paper and also includes key contenders Awesome Crusader and Test Factor, both stretching back around two turns after competing mainly in sprint races during the second half of the season, plus For the Chief, Reminder, and Iris’s Dream. The last named returns locally for the first time since finishing a distant seventh behind Breeders’ Cup Classic runner-up Fierceness in the 2024 Florida Derby.
Two stakes Saturday
Saturday’s 11-race program will be bookended by stakes races. It will conclude with the $115,000 Allen Jerkens Handicap going two miles on the turf and begin with the $130,000 UAE President Cup for Arabian horses carded at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.
The Grade 1 President Cup, the richest Arabian race run in the U.S., lured a field of nine, four of those from the barn of trainer Jerenesto Torrez led by the two time American Arabian Horse of the Year Diamond Gem Aa A, who won this race at Pimlico during the spring of 2023.
The Allen Jerkens lured 11 long-winded turf specialists led by 126 pound highweight The Grey Wizard, popular winner of the two-mile John Forbes Stakes at Far Hills on Oct. 19.
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