Yates scores weekend wins on two fronts

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – When Honor Tori ran off the screen to an eye-catching 17 1/4-length victory to win her maiden at second asking in Sunday’s second race it capped a huge weekend for trainer Michael Yates, who had won a pair of races the previous afternoon, including the Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs with Dorth Vader.

Honor Tori came out of arguably the most productive 2-year-old maiden race of the local season in her debut here May 19 when finishing a well beaten sixth behind Lynx, Trust Me, and Alternate Rock, each of whom returned to win their next starts. Lynx ultimately went on to capture the first two legs of the Florida Sire Series before finishing second behind Atomically in the series finale.

Honor Tori was sidelined nearly seven months after having some chips removed following her debut, per Yates. The Kentucky-bred daughter of Honor Code turned in a series of strong works prior to returning under a $50,000 claiming tag Sunday.

Fortunately, there were no takers as Honor Tori left the field in the dust despite bobbling briefly at the break. She took control in early stretch and widened her advantage with every stride through the final three-sixteenths of a mile under jockey Marco Meneses.

“I was a little surprised by how far she won by, although she had been training well,” Yates said. “I didn’t want to run her any shorter than seven-eighths when we brought her back, I didn’t want her to get out-footed too much early. Obviously, I was very happy with the effort and very happy with the results.”

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Dorth Vader has now won three of her last four starts, her lone setback over that span a tiring third-place finish behind Atomically in the 1 1/16-mile My Dear Girl. She stalked the leaders before pulling away to a convincing 2 1/4-length decision in the seven-furlong Sandpiper while posting a career-best 85 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I thought it was extremely good, probably her best yet,” Yates said. “I think it’s probably too early to tell if she’s just a sprinter. For now, we’ll probably stay focused on Florida-bred races. She came out of the race in good shape, so I’ll get together with the owner [John Ropes] and we’ll make a plan for her moving forward.”

Stonehedge homebred Cajun Dream kicked off Yates’ big weekend with a game 1 1/2-length victory in her career debut against statebreds on Saturday.

Yates, who has 26 horses stabled at Gulfstream Park, the majority of them 2-year-olds, was quick to credit his help for all the success his barn had over the weekend.

“It was a full team effort,” Yates said. “My assistant, David Augustin, all the riders and the grooms, they all work very hard and deserve a mention for what we accomplished the past few days.”

Turf course passes test

Bill Badgett, executive director of Florida racing operations for 1/ST Racing, said the unveiling of the newly renovated turf course proved to be an unequivocal success this past week. A total of 12 races were decided over the refurbished course from Friday through Sunday after the three turf events scheduled for last Thursday were canceled due to inclement weather.

“All the jockeys were ecstatic about it,” Badgett said Monday. “The horses really got over it well. There was no kickback. No divots. So we’re extremely pleased with the course so far.

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“We were a little aggressive with it over the weekend because we wanted to show it off, more or less. Now we’re going to be really able to use the Tapeta for the main reason we put it in. If the races need to come off the turf we can protect the course a lot more and a lot easier than we had been able to in the past.”

Badgett said being able to use the turf course for the first time in six months has already proven to be a big boost for the handle.

“We pretty much doubled our handle comparing turf numbers to Tapeta this weekend and look forward to more of the same as we move forward,” the former trainer added.

◗ A pair of Hall of Famers, trainer Bill Mott and jockey Edgar Prado, combined for one of the more notable performances of the past weekend when Coleridge, a 3-year-old Juddmonte homebred by Uncle Mo, rallied to a 1 1/4-length allowance victory over the turf here Saturday for his second win in just four career starts.

Coleridge had won his maiden here in impressive fashion in late January before being sidelined until registering a fourth-place finish against a strong field of allowance rivals on Oct. 12 at Keeneland.

Coleridge received a career high 84 Beyer for his Saturday win.

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