Starfish Bay wins Ladies Turf in record time

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - After winning three Kentucky Derby preps Saturday, including the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, what could trainer Todd Pletcher do for an encore? Just run one-two in Sunday's $75,000 Ladies Turf Sprint at Gulfstream Park with Starfish Bay and West Ocean while setting a new course record in the process.

Starfish Bay led throughout under jockey Chris DeCarlo to win the five-furlong Turf Sprint by 2 3/4 lengths over her uncoupled stablemate. Life Lesson finished 1 1/2 lengths further back in third. Starfish Bay, a 4-year-old daughter of Elusive Quality, covered the distance in 53.75 seconds, shaving 0.04 of a second off the previous standard set by Procreate in April 2005.

Starfish Bay paid $8.60.

"The course is fast, and she's a very fast filly," said Pletcher who trains Starfish Bay for the Gainesway Stable. "She had a bit of a layoff, after developing a lung infection following her last start. We had trouble clearing it up, so we sent her to the farm for a while. It was just a matter of finding her specialty and this [turf sprinting] appears to be it."

Pletcher also was pleased with the way West Ocean ran after breaking from the extreme outside in a field of nine fillies and mares.

"She had a tough post but closed well," Pletcher said. "It was a good race for both fillies."

Pletcher said he's uncertain where Starfish Bay would run next but cited turf sprints at Keeneland and Churchill Downs during the spring as possible options.

Discreetly Mine leads Risen Star parade

Louis Hodges Jr.

Discreetly Mine wins the Grade 2 Risen Star by 1 1/2 lengths under Javier Castellano on Saturday.

NEW ORLEANS - They might as well have put up the finish line a quarter-mile into the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes. There, it was Discreetly Mine over Tempted to Tapit over Northern Giant - same as the actual end of the $300,000 race, where Discreetly Mine came home a 1 1/2-length winner.

The top end of the Risen Star running order never changed thanks to a surprisingly pokey pace. Quick-footed Tempted to Tapit broke flat-footed, and Northern Giant, another potential pace player, seemed content to sit third. That left Discreetly Mine out by his lonesome through splits of 24.60 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 48.75 to the half - very slow on a fast-playing main track. By comparison, the half-mile pace in the Silverbulletday Stakes was 47.50 seconds.

"On paper, it looked like there was a lot more speed," said winning rider Javier Castellano. "It was very easy for him."

Discreetly Mine gave trainer Todd Pletcher two 3-year-old stakes wins in a matter of minutes: Eskendereya had won the Fountain of Youth Stakes shortly before the Risen Star.

Discreetly Mine ($7) won for just the second time in seven starts, but had finished second in a pair of graded stakes in New York last year at 2. A son of Mineshaft with a route-oriented pedigree, Discreetly Mine was a troubled fourth in the six-furlong Spectacular Bid Stakes in his first start this year, and was making his first start around two turns.

"He wasn't tired at all," Castellano said.

Tempted to Tapit stayed on decently for second, a neck in front of 53-1 shot Northern Giant. Drosselmeyer, the 2-1 favorite raced in sixth-place early, and finished along the rail for fourth. Stay Put, last of 12 early, closed well on the outside for fifth, and Lecomte Stakes winner Ron the Greek, another deep closer, came from 11th to get sixth.

"My horse is a big deep closer," said Ron the Greek's jockey, James Graham. "He finished, but they were finishing, too."

The Risen Star six-furlong split was 1:13.44, the final time for 1 1/16 miles 1:44.88, almost a second faster than the Silverbulletday.

"The first four really quickened home from the quarter pole," said Drosselmeyer's jockey, Kent Desormeaux.

Pletcher, who won the Fair Grounds Handicap with Blues Street earlier on the card, said Discreetly Mine would "most likely" ship back to New Orleans for the Louisiana Derby on March 27.

Eskendereya Spurts Away in Fountain of Youth

Eskendereya shook off Jackson Bend rounding the final turn of the $250,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes (gr. II) at Gulfstream Park and romped home by 8 1/2 lengths under John Velazquez to register his first graded stakes win Feb. 20 (VIDEO).

Buddy's Saint, the 9-5 favorite among 10 rivals in the 1 1/8-mile test for 3-year-olds, left his race on the first turn when he jostled with Aikenite while attempting to advance through an opening at the rail for jockey Jose Lezcano.

Zayat Stables' Eskendereya, a disappointment in last fall's Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) when he finished ninth at Santa Anita, is two-for-two in 2010 for trainer Todd Pletcher. The good-looking son of Giant's Causeway  --Aldebaran Light (by Seattle Slew) won a one-turn mile allowance race Jan. 7 at Gulfstream by 1 1/4 lengths.

The Fountain of Youth is the major tune-up for the $750,000 Florida Derby (gr. I) on March 20. Pletcher said afterward that he would expect to run Eskendereya in that race.

“You’ve got to be excited when they perform like that in these kind of races at this time of year," Pletcher said. "I was particularly pleased with the way he finished. I don’t think we’ve ever gotten to the bottom of him.

"He’s had two wins over the track here now, so the Florida Derby would seem logical for him, but we will consider all the options.”

Eskendereya settled just off the pacesetter Lost Aptitude, who took the lead soon after the start from Aikenite and set a solid pace for the 1 1/8-mile test for 3-year-olds. Eskendereya was well clear off the rail as the field swung into the first turn, where Buddy's Saint and Aikenite bumped a couple of times, with Buddy's Saint losing quite a bit of ground.

“The other horses came in like nothing (on the first turn)," Lezcano said of his trip aboard Buddy's Saint. "I was already in a spot, and they came in and killed my horse; put him into the rail. He came back a little bit to run, but I was out of the race by then because of what happened.”

Lost Aptitude carved fractions of :23.72, :47.92 and 1:12.41 before he abruptly gave way near the three-furlong mark, with Eskendereya taking over. Second choice Jackson Bend, stalking  just off the leaders, attempted to cling to Eskendereya rounding the sweeping final turn, but Eskendereya took control when asked for something leaving the quarter pole. He was never challenged in the lane while striding out impressively.

The final time was 1:48.87 over a fast track.

“I didn’t want to take too good a hold of him out of the gate, and I got to a point early on the backstretch where I started to move forward with him," Velazquez said. "I was hoping that I didn’t take too much out of him. Obviously I didn’t, because he went on, and did it very well.

"It was great feeling when he kicked in and accelerated away from them. He galloped out really well, and I hope he can learn to relax just a bit more in the first part of the race. If he does, I don’t think he’ll have any trouble going further.”

Jackson Bend, ridden by Jeremy Rose, held second by three-quarters of a length, with Aikenite and Alan Garcia third.

“My horse ran his heart out," Rose said.

Sanford Robertson bred Eskendereya in Kentucky. The chestnut colt broke his maiden in his second start last year when he romped to a 7 1/4-length victory in the off-the-turf Pilgrim Stakes over good ground at Belmont Park Oct 4. He ran in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile a month later, but was never a factor after taking up in the first turn at odds of 12-1. He wound up more than six lengths behind the victorious Vale of York.

"We threw a lot at him in the Breeders’ Cup (Juvenile) in just his third start and first on synthetic," Pletcher said. "In the first turn I knew he had no chance. He was jostled badly and sandwiched between horses. At one point I don’t think any of his feet were touching the ground."

Eskendereya, who figures to move way up in the Kentucky Derby rankings, has now won three of five races with one second. He more than doubled his career earnings to $275,700 with the winning purse of $150,000.

Sent off as the third choice, Eskendereya paid $9.80, $4.20 and $3 while topping a $35.20 exacta. Jackson Bend, second in the Holy Bull (gr. III) at Gulfstream to begin his season Jan. 23 for trainer Nick Zito, returned $3.60 and $2.10. Aikenite, also from the Pletcher stable, was $3.60 to show.

It was one length to Pleasant Prince in fourth. He was followed by Ice Box, Pulsion, Positive Split, Prince Will I Am, the troubled Buddy's Saint and Lost Aptitude.

Life At Ten cruises in Rare Treat

Adam Coglianese/NYRA

Life at Ten, with Richard Migliore up, led all the way in the Rare Treat.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - As far as Richard Migliore is concerned, he got paid to go horseback riding Saturday at Aqueduct.

Migliore was aboard Life At Ten, who broke on top and never looked back in cruising to a 5 1/4-length victory in Saturday's $65,000 Rare Treat Stakes. Starship Angel, who was a bit of trouble in the gate, chased Life At Ten the entire trip and finished second, 16 lengths ahead of Pumpkin Shell. Yet Again and Borrowing Base completed the order of finish on a day when front-runners won the first five races.

Making her first start since winning the Snit Stakes here Dec. 12, Life At Ten galloped around Aqueduct's inner rack in fractions of 24.14 seconds, 48.28, 1:12.53, 1:37.40, and covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.09. She returned $3.80 as the favorite.

"Warming up, I don't think a horse could instill more confidence in a rider; the more I warmed her up, the more I felt like she was a cinch," Migliore said. "When she bounced out of the gate in such good order and relaxed so well, it was basically over in an eighth of a mile. It was a lot of fun; that's like going horseback riding."

It was the third straight victory for Life At Ten, a 5-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Malibu Moon owned by Cynthia DeBartolo and trained by Todd Pletcher. Life At Ten missed some training time due to a quarter crack suffered in late December and had only three workouts leading up to the Rare Treat.

"Less than ideal preparation, so to get a mile and an eighth like she did is a real credit to the filly," said Jonathan Thomas, Pletcher's New York-based assistant. "Ian [McKinlay] and Ray Amato Jr., they did a great job to get her back to the races."

Though Starship Angel overcame a troubled start in her last race to win, she emerged from the effort with some poor gate habits. Though her connections had schooled her almost daily leading up to the Rare Treat, Starship Angel was difficult in the gate again.

"She doesn't act nervous, when she's uncomfortable she just sat down," jockey Anna Napravnik said. "They couldn't get her to stand up, so they just backed her out and put her in; you just have to get on without bothering her. She hopped a little bit at the start but she broke relatively well and it didn't really set us back in the race."

Tiger's Rock keeps Pletcher rolling

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - It has been a tremendous winter in New York for trainer Todd Pletcher, and it's not even half-over yet. Pletcher won his seventh stakes of the inner-track season Sunday when Tiger's Rock rallied past stablemate Nite Light in the final furlong to win the $60,000 Coyote Lakes Stakes by a half-length.

The victory came a month after Tiger's Rock beat Nite Light by 4 1/2 lengths when the two also finished first and second in the Gallant Fox Stakes on New Year's Eve. Tiger's Rock is now 2 for 2 on dirt, and 3 for 3 on the main track going 1 5/8 miles. Though nominated to the Dubai World Cup - it's not clear yet whether he will get invited - Tiger's Rock is more likely to remain in marathon stakes with a start in the $60,000 Sharp Gary Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 28.

"The logical thing is to keep doing what's working," Pletcher said Monday from south Florida. "My first impression would be to go in there then maybe step out and try backing him up in [distance] in something like the Excelsior."

The Excelsior is a Grade 3, $200,000 stakes at 1 1/8 miles over Aqueduct's main track on April 3.

The halfway point of the inner-track meet is Thursday. Through Sunday, Pletcher has gone 23 for 53 (44.2 percent) and leads perennial inner-track kingpin Gary Contessa by six wins.

"It's the strongest winter I can remember we've had," said Pletcher, whose New York barn is being overseen by assistant Jonathan Thomas. "Part of that is we did a better job of selecting the right horses to stay back there. It's one of those things where everything has fallen into place and everyone's doing a great job."

Three Day Rush to Whirlaway

Pletcher trains Tiger's Rock for Starlight Partners, an ownership group headed by Jack and Laurie Wolf. That trainer-owner combination will be represented again in Saturday's $100,000 Whirlaway Stakes with Three Day Rush, who will attempt two turns for the first time in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds.

Three Day Rush, a son of Harlan's Holiday, whom the Wolfs won the Florida Derby with in 2002, comes off a front-running victory in a first-level allowance race at Gulfstream on Jan. 9.

"We're not a hundred percent he wants to go that far, but the basic idea that Jack Wolf and I talked about is let's go ahead and answer the question now instead of later," Pletcher said about the colt's distance capabilities. "If he does handle the two turns, then we got a lot of options. If he doesn't, then we can back up and focus on the shorter races."

Three Day Rush is out of the unraced mare Predictress, who is a half-sister to Prophet's Warning, who won the 1998 Ladies Handicap at 1 1/4 miles over the inner track.

A short field is expected for the Whirlaway, led by Eightyfiveinafifty, a 17 1/2-length maiden winner going six furlongs on Jan. 9. Others likely to run include Papa's Nice Cat, second in a New York-bred allowance last out, and Turbo Speed, who finished third in the Count Fleet, his first start around two turns.

Repole moves some horses

Pletcher picked up another stakes winner in his barn in Driven by Success, one of six horses owner Mike Repole moved from trainer Bruce Levine over the weekend. Repole moved three horses to Pletcher and three to Mike Hushion.

Repole, the leading owner in New York in 2009 with 51 wins, said the fact Levine is spending most of the winter at Gulfstream with Kentucky Derby contender Buddy's Saint played a role in his decision to move the horses. Repole still has nine head with Levine.

"This is nothing that wasn't discussed for the last month,' Repole said. "I know the word around the track is that I moved all my horses and fired Levine, and that is totally untrue. Bruce couldn't make it up here three days a week, and while he has good assistants, my horses that were running with Bruce hadn't been successful."

Repole gave Driven by Success, Arrr Pirate's Booty, and Winaholic to Pletcher. He gave Lights Off Annie, Tapped Out Bruno, and an unnamed 3-year-old Tiznow colt to Hushion. He also gave Hushion My Anguilla, who has recently returned to the track after a freshening.

Understatement still perfect on inner

Trainer Todd Pletcher may have lost his two top Aqueduct inner-track loving mares to retirement, but at least he still has the inner-track specialist Understatement in the barn.

Understatement made it 3 for 3 over the inner track, with a ridiculously easy 4 1/2-length front-running victory in Saturday's $65,000 Evening Attire Stakes. His entrymate, Well Positioned - both are owned by Paul Pompa Jr. - finished second, 13 1/2 lengths clear of Storm Play, also trained by Pletcher. Ah Day, More Than a Reason, and Bunker Hill completed the order of finish.

Understatement, a 5-year-old son of Distorted Humor, won two allowance races over the inner track last winter but faltered thereafter, losing his next five starts. He was coming off a decent second-place finish in an allowance race at Laurel, indicating he was perhaps back to form.

On Saturday, Understatment confirmed that he was, striking the front soon after the start under David Cohen and then sailing through fractions of 23.53 seconds, 47.19, 1:11.44, 1:36.24 while completing the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.94. Sent off as the 1-4 favorite with Well Positioned, Understatement returned $2.70 to win.

"His training had suggested he should run like that," said Jonathan Thomas, an assistant for Pletcher, who earlier this winter won stakes with the mares Awesome Ashley and Distorted Passion.

The only anxious moment came heading into the first turn, when it appeared that Bunker Hill, under Chuck Lopez, would challenge Understatement on the front end. Following a glance from Cohen, Lopez backed off.

"I gave him a look like 'Come on man, don't do that to me,' " Cohen said. "Save that for the next race."