Full brother to Eight Belles makes stakes bow in Federico Tesio

All Hands flew home to earn his first victory (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography) Godolphin Racing’s late-starting colt All Hands (Unbridled’s Song) looks to continue the family tradition when he makes his stakes debut at Pimlico on Saturday in the $100,000 Federico Tesio S. for three-year-olds.  Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, All Hands is a full brother to ill-fated filly Eight Belles, who won three consecutive stakes, including the Honeybee S. (G3) and Fantasy S. (G2), before breaking down in the 2008 Kentucky Derby (G1) after passing the finish line in second. “He ran once in Florida and was real green, and didn’t run well,” McLaughlin said. “We put him on a van and sent him to Aqueduct to run long, and we won easy. He’s trained very well since. It’s a big step up from breaking your maiden to a stake but he’s a quality colt.”  All Hands was never in contention in his February 7 debut at Gulfstream Park, but returned five weeks later with a front-running, seven-length score in a mile-and-70-yard maiden special weight, with jockey Jose Ortiz gearing down in the stretch.

“It was a very impressive maiden win,”
McLaughlin said. “It was just breaking his maiden, but he did it the right way
and that’s what was encouraging.”

A narrow 2-1 favorite on the Tesio morning line, All
Hands will break from post 2 of seven in the 1 1/16-mile Tesio under jockey
Fernando Jara.

“He’s improving all the time, and he wants to
go long,” McLaughlin said. “The last race, it wasn’t like we sent him and he has
to be in front. He doesn’t have to be there, but he does have speed. He’s got a
big, long stride and is a nice-looking colt. We hope to see him in some of the
big three-year-old races in the summer and fall.” 

One of All Hands’ rivals on Saturday is Hillwood Stable’s Top of Mind (Curlin),
who will make just
his third career start and first in a stakes when he breaks from the rail in the
1 1/16-mile Tesio. 

The three-year-old bay has been with trainer Rodney Jenkins at Laurel Park
since late fall but didn’t debut until mid-February, winning a six-furlong
maiden race by 3 3/4 lengths. In his subsequent start, Top of Mind led into
deep stretch before yielding late and finishing a half-length behind 39-1 longshot Noteworthy Peach
(Read the Footnotes), who returns in the Tesio.

Favored in his first two
outings, Top of Mind is the 3-1 third choice on the morning line. 

“He’s a very big colt. As a yearling when we
bought him, he was really big,” Jenkins said. “We break all our horses in
Florida and when I brought the other two-year-olds up I left him down there just
to take our time. I knew if I got him here I’d probably run him. It was hard not
to bring him here and go ahead with him because he’s bred well enough to do
pretty much what you want. I think some of these horses need a little time and
he was young and he acted young. We just kind of let him tell us when he wanted
to do it.”

Jenkins plans to employ the same strategy when it comes to mapping out future
spots for Top of Mind, who is Triple Crown nominated.

“This time of year if you’ve got a three-year-old,
you find out what you’ve got a little bit and see where you belong,” the
horseman explained. “The colt’s done everything we ask him. Knock on wood, he’s sound. If he
runs well, sure, we have aspirations. Again, we’ll let him tell us where to
go.”

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