Corporate Jungle climbs ladder of success in Appleton

"We thought he had stakes potential," Brown said. "He's the kind of horse

that just needed to mature a little bit. I thought down here he came out of his

races a lot better than he did last summer. I think that has to do with his

overall physical maturity and he can handle the rigors of racing. He should be

set up now for a good year."

Regular rider Javier Castellano reserved Corporate Jungle several lengths off the

cut-throat tempo. Front runner El Commodore reeled off an opening quarter in :22

4/5, then was pressed by Decisive Moment through fractions of :45 2/5 and 1:08

3/5. As the battlers predictably yielded entering the stretch, the stalking

Street Game ranged up to challenge, but couldn't sustain his effort.

Corporate Jungle made smooth progress to take command, driving to a 1

1/2-length advantage in midstretch. Trend was the only closer to gain ground,

but his rally was not enough to peg back the winner. Corporate Jungle sped in

1:33 4/5 on the firm turf and paid $6, $3.60 and $3.

"We knew there was a lot of speed in the race, so it worked out great,"

Castellano said. "I just sat off them and when I asked him to run he really

responded. He gave me a good kick in the end. It was a nice performance. He

galloped out really nice and I think he will go farther."

Monument Hill, encountering considerable traffic woes along the way, crossed

the wire another 1 1/4 lengths back in third. Beau Choix did his best work late

for fourth.

Brilliant Speed, the 2-1 second choice, seemed outpaced in his

comeback at a flat mile, but improved his position to grab fifth. His

connections realized that this was just the starting point.

"It was way too short for him," jockey John Velazquez said. "We were a lot

further back than I wanted, and he had too much ground to make up. In the lane

he just finished evenly, but it was a good race for a comeback."

"The trip was fine," trainer Tom Albertrani said. "He needed a race to come

back in. He needs to go longer. That's the bottom line."

Decisive

Moment, Street Game and El Commodore concluded the order of finish.

Bred by Blandford Stud and Harty and O'Rourke in Kentucky, Corporate Jungle

brought $210,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. The full brother to stakes

scorer Followmyfootsteps is out of the stakes-winning Carson City mare Lady

Carson.

Corporate Jungle's third dam, the multiple stakes-winning Cohoes mare Miss

Swapsco, is the ancestress of champion Devil's Bag, Canadian Hall of Famer and

blue hen producer Glorious Song as well as Grade 2 victor Saint Ballado, who

made a bigger impact as a sire.

"I'm going to go ahead and talk to Gary and Mary West and their racing

manager, Ben Glass, and we'll put our heads together and figure a spot out,"

Brown said. "I'll probably take a look at the Woodford Reserve (Grade 1 at nine

furlongs on Kentucky Derby Day) and try to stretch him out a little bit."