Zayat Stables’ El Kabeir ran his rivals ragged in Saturday’s
4TH
race at Saratoga,
breaking his maiden by a widening 10 3/4 lengths in a devastating performance on
the front end.
Trained by John Terranova II and ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., the Scat Daddy
juvenile dictated fractions of :22 3/5 and :44 4/5 before spurting away in the
stretch. El Kabeir was six lengths clear at the six-furlong mark in 1:09 4/5 and
kept pouring it on to finish seven fast-track furlongs in a snappy 1:22.
His final time was considerably faster than the 1:23 2/5 clocked by fellow
two-year-old Two Weeks Off earlier on the card, and older starter allowance
horses took 1:23 to go the same distance in the 6TH. Only top older sprinter
Palace went faster on the day when winning the Grade 1 Forego in 1:21 4/5.
The 5-2 second choice, El Kabeir paid $7.50 to win. Royal Son was best of the
rest as the 6-5 favorite.
El Kabeir was wheeling back 16 days after his troubled debut at the Spa,
where he was compromised right at the start of a five-furlong dash. The gray
recovered to finish third to the highly-regarded Blofeld. Signature Cat, the
runner-up that day, is entered in Monday’s Hopeful.
“They’re babies and last time he broke a little slow out of there,” said
Ortiz, who was riding him for the first time Saturday. “The trainer told me if
he broke good to try to get a good trip and give the horse a chance, and he’ll
come running in the end. He was in front easy. He felt good. He’s a nice horse.
He did it easy.”
Terranova commented on the decision to get in one more race at Saratoga.
“He made me enter him, the horse did. I kind of threw it out there to (Ahmed)
Zayat and Justin (Zayat) earlier in the week. I said, ‘This horse really is
doing well. I don’t know if we want to even wait until we get back to Belmont.
There is a seven-eighths closing weekend. We can enter him, and we’ve got a few
days (to make a decision).’
“He did everything right, perfect, even in that first race,” Terranova
continued. “He came out of it like he needed it. He had trouble at the break,
and we knew he wasn’t a five-furlong horse; he wanted more ground in front of
him.
“We’ll see how he comes back and how he trains once we get back home to
Belmont. Obviously, we have the Champagne (Grade 1, $500,000 on October 4) in
mind, and some other races. I’m a New Yorker — if I can stay in New York, I’ll
stay home.”
Bred by Rustlewood Farm in Florida, El Kabeir was purchased for $250,000 as a
yearling at OBS August.
He has now earned $58,100 from his 2-1-0-1 line. El Kabeir is the first
registered foal from the unraced Great Venue, an Unbridled’s Song half-sister to
multiple Grade 2-winning sprinter and sire Too Much Bling. Great Venue is also a
half-sister to Ohio-bred stakes winners Barnsy, Ready for Roses and
Littlebitabling.
Starlight Racing’s Two Weeks Off employed pace-pressing tactics to score at
second asking in the
2ND race. After attending Easy Comparison through splits of :23 1/5 and :46
1/5, the Todd Pletcher pupil drew alongside for a real stretch tussle, and
finally got the better of his rival. Under Hall of Famer John Velazquez, Two
Weeks Off drove to a 1 1/4-length decision. The dark bay returned $5.90 as the
9-5 favorite.
Sired by the late Harlan’s Holiday, the aptly-named colt was runner-up to
Hopeful entrant Requite in their mutual debut here on August 9. Two Weeks Off
now sports a mark of 2-1-1-0, $66,400.
Two Weeks Off was bred by Haymarket Farm in Kentucky and has sold twice at
auction, fetching $170,000 as a
Keeneland November
weanling and going to his current connections for $320,000 at
Fasig-Tipton
Saratoga last August. He was produced by the unraced Elusive Quality mare
Havenlass, who is a half-sister to Grade 2 scorers Royal Haven and Belterra.
Juveniles kicked off the Woodward Day card in the
1ST race, a 1 1/16-mile turf maiden won in dramatic fashion by the Mike
Maker-trained Firespike. Jockey Javier Castellano had to check off heels and
alter course in a traffic-ridden stretch drive, but Firespike sliced between
foes late to score by a neck. The 8-5 favorite stopped the clock in 1:43 4/5 on
the firm Mellon turf and paid $5.30 to win. Congrats to Ken was second, a neck
up on the wide-trip Tapkee, in a blanket finish.
Owned by Skychai Racing and Charles Kevin Warner, Firespike improved his
record to 3-1-1-1, $62,800. The son of South Africa-bound Flower Alley appeared
en route to a good-looking debut score at Ellis Park July 11, only to veer in,
collide with the rail, and end up second. In an August 2 maiden at this course
and distance, Firespike was third to Strong Coffee, subsequently fourth as the
2-1 favorite in Thursday’s With Anticipation, and Face the Music, a next-out
winner himself.
Firespike was bred in Florida by Carlos Rafael, Michael Bossio and Cherie
Abner. An RNA for $17,000 as a weanling at Keeneland November, and again for
$55,000 as an OBS August yearling, he was snapped up by Maker for $70,000 back
at OBS this April. The bay colt is out of the winning Dixieland Band mare Fairy
Valley, herself a half-sister to Canadian champion Basqueian. This is also the
immediate family of Grade 1 turf hero Karelian.
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