Engage, favored for the third time in as many starts, enjoyed an unencumbered journey Saturday to win like a 1-2 shot should. Away well in the compact field of five, the bay was outfooted early and dropped back to trail while tugging hard at Jose Ortiz to do more. Splitting a seam after a half in :45.76, he kicked away convincingly from there. Stakes winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Barry Lee had to settle for second after getting bottled up a bit in upper stretch.
“The first time he ran, I knew he was a good horse that day and he came back and won and last week he worked tremendous (BEL, 5f, :48.44,” said Ortiz. “With the post that I had today (number six), I knew he was going to be tough. When I asked him to go at the three-sixteenths, I got the hole and I went outside Johnny [Velazquez on Mojovation], he really exploded. He gave me a great turn of foot.
Engage settled for second behind GI Hopeful S. fifth National Flag (Speightstown) first up at Saratoga Aug. 5, and broke through on closing day Sept. 4, earning a best last-out Beyer Speed Figure of 81.
“He strikes me as a one-turn horse, but I think there is room for improvement and we are going to try to stretch him out gradually,” said winning trainer Chad Brown. “Speaking with Jose just now he feels the same way. He thinks there's some room to get him out a little further in distance. I think the [one-mile GII] Nashua [S. at Aqueduct Nov. 5] makes sense if we choose to bring him back in that time frame and keeping him one-turn for now. Going around two turns we'll see how he develops.”
Pedigree Notes:
Stakes-placed turfer Nefertiti–herself a daughter of MGSW grass runner Clearly a Queen–was purchased for $125,000 carrying Engage at the 2014 Keeneland November sale. She produced a Will Take Charge filly earlier this season before being bred to Quality Road. Engage covered a furlong in a bullet :9 4/5 earlier this year at OBS March.
Saturday, Belmont
FUTURITY S.-GIII, $147,000, BEL, 10-14, 2yo, 6f, 1:10.09, ft.
1–ENGAGE, 118, c, 2, by Into Mischief
1st Dam: Nefertiti (SP), by Speightstown
2nd Dam: Clearly a Queen, by Lucky North
3rd Dam: Cryptoqueen, by Cryptoclearance
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($200,000
Ylg '16 KEESEP; $550,000 2yo '17 OBSMAR). O-Woodford
Racing, LLC; B-Woods Edge Farm, LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown;
J-Jose L. Ortiz. $90,000. Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0, $156,400.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick
Rating: A+.[bullet ad=”kbif-g2g3″][bullet ad=”woodsedgefarm-grad”][bullet ad=”crupi-trained”]2–Barry Lee, 120, c, 2, Violence–Light of a Star, by Muqtarib.
“TDN Rising Star” ($210,000 Wlg '15 KEENOV; $220,000 RNA
Ylg '16 KEESEP; $380,000 2yo '17 OBSMAR). O-Sagamore Farm
& Stanley Hough; B-Golden Pedigree LLC (KY); T-Horacio
DePa. $30,000.[bullet ad=”mcmahon-and-hill-purchased-as-a-foal”][bullet ad=”hidden-brook-sales-graduate”][bullet ad=”nick-de-meric-consigned-by-de-meric-sales”][bullet ad=”selectsales-shell”][bullet ad=”machmer-hall-foaled-raised-for-golden-pedigree-llc”]3–Mojovation, 118, c, 2, Quality Road–Starship Warpspeed, by
Congrats. ($330,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP). O-Zayat Stables, LLC;
B-WinStar Farm, LLC (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $15,000.[bullet ad=”winstar-bred”][bullet ad=”selectsales-shell”][bullet ad=”mckathan-brothers-training-grad”]Margins: 3HF, 4 3/4, 1HF. Odds: 0.55, 4.50, 2.90.
Also Ran: Red Peril, Smooth B. Scratched: Happy Like a Fool. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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