Telling crashes Sword Dancer party at 33-1

Telling dropped the Sword on his Saratoga rivals (Bill Roberts/Horsephotos.com) Considering that Alex and JoAnn Lieblong’s TELLING (A.P. Indy) had never won a stakes race, it was hardly surprising that the Steve Hobby trainee was not on the originally-published list of invitees to Saturday’s $500,000 Sword Dancer Invitational S. (G1) at Saratoga. Once he did garner an invitation, however, Telling made the most of it to crash the party as the longest shot on the board at 33-1. Rolling late off an unexpectedly fast pace, the Darley-bred bay swept to the front in the stretch and completed 1 1/2 miles in 2:25 2/5 on the firm turf. Telling, who was belatedly living up to his blue-blooded pedigree, rewarded his loyalists with mutuels of $68, $28 and $13.40. “The owner picked it out,” Hobby said of the tilt at the Sword Dancer, which turned into the first Grade 1 win of his training career. “We (entered) a small stake in Chicago (the August 1 Rossi Gold S. at Arlington Park) and we scratched to run in this. “I figured it was the time to try now,” continued Hobby, who called NYRA’s stakes coordinator Andrew Byrnes to request an invitation. “For me, it’s a great thrill. This is my first time in Saratoga. He was training so well and he really moves up in the mile and a half. We figured if he can’t do it now, he’ll never do it.” “We knew were in tough,’ Alex Lieblong said. “We didn’t think we were over our heads.” In the early going, Lauro (Ger) (Monsun) carved out quick fractions of :23 2/5, :46 4/5, 1:11 and 1:36 while being hounded by Musketier (Ger) (Acatenango). Americain (Dynaformer) was also forwardly placed, with Telling, Quijano (Ger) (Acatenango) and eventually Rising Moon (Runaway Groom) comprising the next flight. Among those lagging far back were nearly 3-1 favorite Grand Couturier (GB) (Grand Lodge), in search of an unprecedented third straight Sword Dancer, and the veterans Better Talk Now (Talkin Man) and Brass Hat (Prized).

When the early leaders began to weaken entering the stretch, Telling
unleashed a bold move to take command. Better Talk Now rallied on the outside,
but the 10-year-old could not make a dent on the longshot. Telling kept on
strongly to bag the upset, crossing the wire two lengths ahead of the ageless
runner-up.

“I covered all the way in the race and tried to wait for one kick,” winning
rider Javier Castellano explained. “I knew the two best horses in the race
always come from behind. I just wanted to make the right move to get the job
done.

“I had the perfect trip; I saved all the ground in the race. I squeezed in
between the two horses and when I asked him he kicked in, and opened by two.

“He finished very good — a lot of power, strong. I’m very surprised at the
way he ran a mile and a half and didn’t get tired. I had to pull him up on the
backside with the other horses.”

Better Talk Now, who was finishing second in the Sword Dancer for the second
straight year, paid $11 and $6.90 at nearly 12-1. The eight-year-old Brass Hat
closed energetically for third, another length back, and the 14-1 shot yielded
$7.80.

With outsiders dominating the result, the exacta was worth $645, the trifecta
totaled $9,045, and the 7-4-9-2 superfecta, with the 26-1 Gentleman Chester
(Chester House) in fourth, ballooned to $79,644.

Grand Couturier eventually got up for fifth, followed by Quijano, Americain,
Rising Moon and the pace duelists Musketier and Lauro.

Telling’s Grade 1 coup boosted his earnings to $484,406 from a 17-5-4-4
record. The Kentucky-bred made only one start for Darley Stable, finishing third
in a maiden special weight at Arlington as a sophomore. Telling was subsequently
acquired by the Lieblongs and turned over to Hobby, for whom he compiled a
four-race winning streak in early 2008. After stepping up into stakes company,
Telling often performed well enough to hit the board. He garnered five stakes
placings, notably last year’s Stars and Stripes Turf H. (G3), Sycamore S. (G3) and
River City H. (G3). Telling was coming off a rallying fifth in the Arlington H.
(G3).

Out of Ashland S. (G1) heroine Well Chosen (Deputy Minister), Telling is a
half-brother to an unnamed yearling filly and a 2009 colt, both by Bernardini.
He hails from the family of Silver City (Unbridled’s Song), hero of the
Dixieland S. earlier this year, as well as Grade 2 winner Academy Award
(Secretariat) and Irish highweight juvenile colt Tomahawk (Seattle Slew).