Untreated gets one more rehearsal before taking the big stage

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Untreated won a two-turn maiden race impressively last March at Tampa Bay Downs, so his connections did what connections of a talented 3-year-old typically do at that time of year – ran him in a graded stakes race. Untreated finished eighth in the Grade 2 Blue Grass, 33 3/4 lengths behind winner Essential Quality.

As it turned out, Untreated wrenched an ankle in the Blue Grass and was away from the races for eight months. On Nov. 19, Untreated returned with a solid 3 1/2-length, first-level allowance win going a mile at Aqueduct. Instead of being put back into stakes company, Untreated will get another allowance race under his belt when he runs Friday in a second-level allowance/optional $62,500 claimer at Aqueduct.

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The one-mile race drew a solid 10-horse field that includes Boldish, a winner of three straight; the 6-year-old Prioritize; and Buy Land and Sea, a turf stakes winner who is trying dirt for the first time.

Untreated, a son of Nyquist, earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure for his Nov. 19 allowance win. He made a sustained bid from the half-mile pole home and won going away.

“I thought it was really good, really pleased,” said Todd Pletcher, who trains Untreated for Barry Irwin’s Team Valor International. “We were pretty ambitious with him in the spring. We’re going to take a more methodical approach this time. Hopefully, he does well there, and if he does continue to progress, he’ll go to a stake.”

Buy Land and Sea is a 4-year-old son of Cairo Prince who has made all eight of his starts on turf. He has run only twice in 2021 and has worked too well on the dirt not to give it at least one try, according to trainer Tony Dutrow.

“The distance should be really good,” Dutrow said. “He’s training great. . . . It’s time to see what he is on dirt.”

Dutrow is also putting blinkers back on Buy Land and Sea, equipment he wore in six of his first eight starts.

Boldish is trained by Linda Rice. She will also send out Mexican Boy, who makes his first start off a Dec. 11 claim.

Also entered are Prioritize, Two Thirty Five, Lost in Rome, Parsimony, Pioneer Spirit, and Croatian.