'Accelerating' Into Stardom

“Inside the Winner's Circle, Presented by Keeneland” is a series showcasing graduates of the Keeneland September sale that have gone on to achieve success on racing's biggest stages.

While the proliferation of 2-year-old sales has created an emphasis on precocity in some areas of the Thoroughbred auction market, recent history has shown the benefits of buying horses and letting them develop more at their own pace. The last two 3-year-old male champions, Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) and West Coast (Flatter) each began their career as sophomores, and, of course, this year's near-certain champion Justify (Scat Daddy) famously didn't start as a 2-year-old before capturing three Grade I's, including two-thirds of the Triple Crown so far, in the span of six weeks this spring.

More quietly, however, the early favorite for this year's champion older male honors is also a runner who didn't debut until his 3-year-old season. Hronis Racing's Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky) opened his account April 17, 2016–ironically in the same race Arrogate premiered in–and took four starts to earn his diploma. But the chestnut has developed steadily over time since, and he is now peaking just in time for the big push to the Breeders' Cup, producing his second dominant Grade I-winning performance in Saturday's Gold Cup S. at Santa Anita.

Oftentimes, horses who miss their freshman year do so because of one physical setback or another, but Accelerate was always going to be a late bloomer, at least according to bloodstock agent David Ingordo, who picked him out for Kosta Hronis and trainer John Sadler as a yearling at Keeneland September in 2014. In fact, because the horse, bred by Mike Abraham, was a May foal–born May 10, to be exact–Ingordo believes they were able to get him as a relative bargain at $380,000.

“He was a late foal, but he had size and was really well-balanced,” Ingordo recalled. “John and Kosta are great where, if you see a nice horse that isn't going to be an early-developing one, they still let you buy it if the price is right. He was a good-looking horse who still cost some money, but if he had an earlier foal date and more Triple Crown potential, he would've cost a lot more money. But he was very balanced, very athletic, was a well-raised horse, correct. He had everything you want to see in a yearling.”

Ingordo, the stepson of John Shirreffs, goes way back with Sadler, one of the top trainers on the West Coast. The two have formed a partnership that, with a big assist from the backing of Hronis, has expanded the success of the barn nationwide.

“John [Sadler] is like part of my family,” Ingordo said. “My father, who was a jocks' agent and has since passed, showed John the ropes on the racetrack when he first came around the backside. My mother and John are like brother and sister to this day. I do a lot for “Uncle John” to help him stay current on what is going on outside of California, report on the babies being broken at Mayberry Farm in Ocala and arranging private purchases domestically or overseas. And through that, I've developed a great relationship with the Hronis family. John recommended that I be part of their team, and Kosta said, 'Okay, cool, let's do it.' He has been a dream client.”

Hronis, Sadler and Ingordo have already developed a champion in Stellar Wind (Curlin), 2015's Eclipse winner for 3-year-old filly, who was a private purchase after breaking her maiden in dominant fashion at Laurel. Accelerate has been with them since the beginning of his track training, however, and their patience has now paid off tenfold.

“We had him at Mayberry Farm and down there, the horse was always well-rated, always moved right, never had a bad day, but you could always tell he was a little bit immature compared to some of the other horses we had in that crop,” Ingordo remembered. “John gave him a little bit of time and it didn't surprise me that he eventually did what he's doing.”

Graduating by 8 3/4 powerful lengths July 28, 2016, Accelerate quickly came to hand after that, repeating in the Shared Belief S. a month later.

He followed that up with his first graded score in the GII Los Alamitos Derby before validating his true potential with a third-place effort against elders at 42-1 in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile that fall.

“His race in the Los Al Derby tipped his hand that there were bigger things to come,” Ingordo said. “But until they face a top-level horse and field, you don't know.”

Accelerate went winless in his first four starts as a 4-year-old, but placed in three graded stakes among those efforts. His true coming out party came last summer, when he and three other rivals were completely overlooked in Del Mar's GII San Diego H. That race marked the much-anticipated return of Arrogate–the gray's first outing since overcoming a disastrous start to win the G1 Dubai World Cup with breathtaking ease. Arrogate never fired that day, finishing a well-beaten fourth, but Accelerate sure did, going wire-to-wire in an 8 1/2-length tour de force and announcing himself to the racing public.

“He showed the world what we thought of him,” Ingordo said. “When he was moving down the backside, with how easy he was going, he has this trademark rhythmic stride and then he just kicks away. He closes the door on horses and really breaks horses' hearts.”

That finishing move was on display again in the Mar. 10 GI Santa Anita H., when Accelerate earned his first top-level victory with an emphatic 5 1/2-length tally. He suffered a slight setback when second by a neck to City of Light (Quality Road) in the GII Oaklawn H. Apr. 14, one which Ingordo chalks up to the dynamics of the track.

“I was at Oaklawn and the post position got him beat,” he said. “You didn't want to be on the inside and City of Light kind of got the jump on him.”

That theory was borne out Saturday at Santa Anita, when Accelerate swooped past City of Light and eventual runner-up Dr. Dorr (Lookin At Lucky) just outside the eighth pole and powered clear to a no-doubt 4 1/4-length win. The effort earned him a career-best Beyer of 111 and perched him atop the ranks of the older-male division, at least for the time being. And the man who picked him out thinks there may not be a challenger to knock the 5-year-old off that pedestal, save a certain sophomore.

“The way Accelerate's going on numbers and performance, he's a top handicap horse in the country,” he said. “Unless something jumps out of the woodwork or peaks, he's going to be tough to beat. Except for maybe a Justify.”