Yaupon a standout in Lang Stakes
BALTIMORE – Yaupon enters the Chick Lang Stakes unbeaten and untied, although it nearly wasn’t so. The Uncle Mo colt won his career debut in June at Churchill Downs by a matter of inches, averting a dead-heat or wicked beat.
Yaupon went on to win his two subsequent starts with great aplomb, making him strictly the horse to beat Thursday at Pimlico when going six furlongs in the Grade 3, $200,000 Chick Lang. Back-to-back Saratoga romps equated to triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, a sizable edge that has made him the 4-5 morning-line favorite in a field of 10 3-year-olds.
Steve Asmussen is the trainer of Yaupon, whose last-out victory in the Grade 2 Amsterdam marked him as a sprinter for the future. Asmussen recently lost Volatile, his primary hope for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, to retirement, so surely he would not mind seeing Yaupon step up Thursday with the kind of effort to make him a viable candidate for that Nov. 7 race at Keeneland.
Yaupon will break from post 9 with John Velazquez aboard when looking to give Asmussen his fourth victory in the Lang, following Lantana Mob (2008), Holy Boss (2015), and Mitole (2018). His natural speed and outer post are likely to yield the right kind of trip, even with several other quick ones signed on, including Arkaan (post 10, Paco Lopez) just to his outside.
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If Yaupon is to taste defeat for the first time, his conqueror most likely will be one turning back from slightly longer distances. In fact, of his nine opponents, only Double Crown (post 6, Cristian Torres) did not race at 6 1/2 furlongs or longer in their most recent start.
Blackberry Wine (post 4, Martin Garcia) might be the most capable closer, even when returning from a layoff of nearly five months for Joe Sharp. The Calumet Farm homebred has flashed brilliance on occasion and could be particularly dangerous when fresh.
Other considerations include Relentless Dancer, Pitching Ari, and Lebda, the respective 1-2-3 finishers in the seven-furlong Hilton Memorial on Aug. 28 at Charles Town, along with Captain Bombastic and Dreams Untold, both of them sharp last-out winners of restricted races.
Dreams Untold ships south from Parx Racing for owner-breeder Someday Farm and trainer John Servis, the same connections that won the 2004 Preakness with Smarty Jones.
“I think it’s time,” for trying graded company, Servis said. “There’s not a lot around, especially now that we’re getting to the end of the 3-year-old year. So we’re going to take a shot.”
The Chick Lang is named for the lifelong Marylander who worked as an agent for the legendary Bill Hartack and other top jockeys before settling in for the Cohen family as the longtime general manager at Pimlico, becoming fondly known as “Mr. Preakness.” Lang died in March 2010 at age 83.
The Lang, the ninth of 10 Thursday races, is the last and richest of three Thursday sprint stakes that kick off an abbreviated Preakness week ending Saturday. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern, with the Lang set for 5:04 p.m. Sunshine and a high of 72 are in the Baltimore forecast for Thursday.