7th-DMR, $64,725, Msw, 8-20, 3yo/up, 6 1/2f, 1:16.21, ft.
COLDSPELL (c, 3, Tapit–Burgundy Ice, by Storm Cat) made his belated second career start a winning one with an improbable rally from well off the pace to graduate from the maiden ranks. The gray was away awkwardly at odds of 11-1 and lagged well off the pace behind fractions of :22.27 and :44.89. Gathering steam on the far turn, he circled the field in the center of the track and got up late to score by a half-length over My Prince Harry (Henny Hughes). Coldspell becomes the sixth next-out winner to exit a Dec. 26 maiden event won by 'TDN Rising Star' and GI Santa Anita Derby hero Danzing Candy (Twirling Candy)–a race in which he finished sixth. The winner's second dam is GISW Cara Rafaela (Quiet American), herself the dam of champion and prominent sire Bernardini (A.P. Indy). Burgundy Ice is also responsible for an unraced juvenile filly named Lipinsky (Street Cry {Ire}) and a weanling filly by Malibu Moon. She was most recently bred back to Tapit.
“I expected him to run very well,” trainer Eoin Harty told TDN Saturday. “He had been working very well and I had done plenty of work with him, so I knew fitness wasn't a question. He had a throat surgery back at the end of December and that was the reason for the layoff. You never really know how these things have worked until you run them, but I thought he would run very well. I didn't have any inclination that the throat surgery had been anything less than 100% successful prior to running, but it's hard to simulate race conditions. He acted very professionally and I had a lot of confidence in him going in the gate.”
The long layoff also gave Coldspell time to mature, according to Harty.
“He's gotten very professional in a very short period of time,” Harty explained. “When I ran him on opening day at Santa Anita, he was quite a handful. He was young and obnoxious. But I have a very good assistant, Roberto Soto, who spent an awful lot of time with this horse and he, in my opinion, has made all the difference.”
As for where the well-bred gray may head next, Harty added, “I have no idea where he'll go next. Gary [Stevens] is obviously very busy this afternoon, he'll be riding Beholder (Henny Hughes) here in just a little bit, so I really didn't have a chance to talk to him. I won't make any decisions until I talk to Gary in the morning.” Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-0, $38,050. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
O-Godolphin Stable; B-Darley (KY); T-Eoin G. Harty.
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