Antonio Miuccio’s Palace tipped wide for the stretch drive and outfinished
Strapping Groom to prove best in Thursday’s Grade 3, $300,000
Fall Highweight Handicap
at Aqueduct. Weighted under a 129-pound impost,
Palace was making his graded stakes debut following a pair of restricted stakes
wins over New York-bred rivals. Cornelio Velasquez was up.
The Linda Rice-trained four-year-old colt has now captured four of his last
five starts. Haltered for $20,000 from a maiden claiming win in October 2012,
Palace improved his overall record to 14-8-2-2, $532,050, with the 1 1/2-length
decision.
Jake N Elwood sprinted to the fore and established splits in :22 1/5 and :45
2/5 while under pressure from Strapping Groom, the 135-pound highweight. Palace
settled in midpack and rated about five lengths off of the early action.
Strapping Groom took the lead into the stretch as The Lumber Guy joined the
fray to his outside, and Palace closed rapidly into contention while at least
five paths wide leaving the far turn. Strapping Groom shook loose from The
Lumber Guy in midstretch but could not withstand the charge from Palace, who
powered his way past in the final sixteenth of a mile to win going away under
the wire.
Off as the 5-2 second choice, Palace returned a $7.40 win mutuel after
completing six furlongs in 1:09 4/5 on the “good” track.
Strapping Groom, the 5-1 sixth choice, wound up a half-length better than the
4-1 The Lumber Guy in third. It was another 2 1/2 lengths to last year’s winner
Caixa Eletronica in fourth.
Sage Valley, the 2-1 favorite, Saturday’s Charm, B Shanny and Jake N Elwood
rounded out the order of finish.
“I really think he likes sitting off the pace as a come-from-behind
sprinter,” Rice said. “He seems to relish that, and, now that we have figured
that out, he’s doing great.”
“Perfect trip,” Velasquez added. “I think he’s getting much better all the
time. Before, he wanted to run on the lead; now he’s better coming from behind.
He ran good the last part of the race — fast.”
Bred in New York by the Peter J. Callahan Revocable Trust, Palace was
initially purchased for $160,000 at the 2011 OBS March two-year-old sale. He’s
by the successful Grade 1-winning stallion City Zip and hails from the winning
End Sweep mare Receivership, a half-sister to Grade 2 winner French Park.
After showing little early in his career, Palace was dropped into the maiden
claiming ranks for his fourth career start and wound up being taken by his
current connections following an 11 3/4-length victory. The bay has never raced
for a tag again.
He posted four wins over optional claiming opponents before capturing the
August 23 Chowder’s First at Saratoga by three lengths and the October 19 Hudson
Handicap at Belmont by 1 1/4 lengths.
“I was really excited about today’s race, because it is quite gratifying,”
Rice said. “The fact he’s a son of City Zip — I trained (Palace’s) father, who
was such a tremendous racehorse — makes it really cool.”
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