With two Grade I winners and two 'TDN Rising Stars' comprising half the GIII Salvator Mile S. field at Monmouth Park Saturday, it was Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables LLC's Bright Future (h, 5, Curlin–Sophia's Song, by Bellamy Road)–one of the former Grade I winners who was also coming off a seven-month layoff–who got the win after a tight trip on the rail. Fellow GISW Shirl's Speight (Speightstown), who has done his best running on the lawn but was third in this race in 2022, tired to sixth.
The winner broke alertly, but was outfooted to the front and got locked into a joint-third inside spot with Shirl's Speight behind Charles Town star Coastal Mission (Great Notion) and Gulfstream stakes winner Oscar Eclipse (Oscar Performance ) through :24.05 and :48.16 fractions. Surrounded on all sides with no where to go and shuffled back to sixth on the far turn, Bright Future miraculously had the seas part in front of him just after the announcer noted him “plodding in place” coming off the turn. The chestnut accelerated sharply at the top of the stretch, found yet another gear late in the lane, and blasted right by Coastal Mission and last-out Parx allowance victor Movisitor (Uncle Mo) for a 1 3/4-length triumph.
“That was a big performance,” said Anthony Sciametta, assistant to winning trainer Todd Pletcher. “We're very pleased. The horse was training well at Belmont so I'm really not surprised. They obviously liked him. When he started falling back a little bit we got a little worried but then he came running again. It's a big win for him. He is coming off the bench and it's really good for him going forward.”
Bright Future has been off since a sixth-place finish behind White Abarrio (Race Day) in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic last November, a spot he earned on the merits of a GI Jockey Club Gold Cup S. win in the waning days of the Saratoga meet in September. Those two starts followed an open daylight allowance win at Saratoga, the first in a string of three consecutive races that netted triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures for Bright Future. His last several works upon returning have been very sharp, including a :47 3/5 move over four furlongs (3/172) on Belmont's training track June 8.
#2 BRIGHT FUTURE ($4.20) got rolling down the inside to win Monmouth's $150,000 Salvator Mile Stakes (G3).
This is the first start of the year for the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, who was ridden by @jjcjockey for @PletcherRacing and owners St. Elias Stable & @RepoleStable. pic.twitter.com/zVhIOs9AlY
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) June 15, 2024
Pedigree Notes:
Bright Future is one of 59 graded winners from 105 black-type winners for Hill 'n' Dale's super sire Curlin, who has 10 stakes winners (six graded) on the year thus far. Bright Future's win also marks the third consecutive weekend Curlin has had a graded winner, starting with GIII Blame S. winner Highland Falls June 1 and continuing with GII Suburban S. winner Crupi June 8.
Sophia's Song, a listed winner at Laurel who was also GSP at Charles Town, sold at last November's Fasig-Tipton 'Night of the Stars' sale on the heels of Bright Future's Jockey Club Gold Cup win. Shadai Farm picked her up in foal to Jackie's Warrior for $1.35 million and promptly shipped her to Japan. The mare had several headlining months. In addition to Bright Future's GI win in September, her debuting 2-year-old, Booth (Mitole), was named a 'TDN Rising Star' at Keeneland in October and, in December, her sophomore daughter Musical Mischief (Into Mischief) finished third in the GI American Oaks. Sophia's Song currently has a juvenile colt by Tiz the Law and a yearling colt by Maxfield. The mare is out of an unraced full-sister to dual champion sprinter Housebuster from the same family as last year's GI Hopeful S. winner Nutella Fella (Runhappy). Damsire Bellamy Road, the 2005 GI Wood Memorial S. winner, has an even dozen black-type winners out of his daughters.
Saturday, Monmouth
SALVATOR MILE S.-GIII, $155,000, Monmouth, 6-15, 3yo/up, 1m, 1:36.96, ft.
1–BRIGHT FUTURE, 118, h, 5, by Curlin
1st Dam: Sophia's Song (SW & GSP, $155,892),
by Bellamy Road
2nd Dam: Dreamscape, by Mt. Livermore
3rd Dam: Big Dreams, by Great Above
($350,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Repole Stable and St. Elias
Stables LLC; B-Clearsky Farms (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Javier
Castellano. $90,000. Lifetime Record: GISW, 9-5-0-2,
$926,940. *1/2 to Musical Mischief (Into Mischief), GISP,
$189,084. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Coastal Mission, 122, g, 5, Great Notion–Smart Crowd, by
Crowd Pleaser. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O/B-Coleswood
Farm, Inc. (WV); T-Jeff C. Runco. $30,000.
3–Movisitor, 118, c, 4, Uncle Mo–Ristretto, by Medaglia d'Oro.
1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($135,000 RNA Ylg '21 FTKOCT;
$120,000 3yo '23 FTKHRA). O-Waldorf Racing Stables LLC;
B-Forgotten Land Investment Inc (PA); T-Marya K. Montoya.
$15,000.
Margins: 1 3/4, NK, 2HF. Odds: 1.10, 6.20, 21.00.
Also Ran: Stage Raider, Oscar Eclipse, Shirl's Speight, Artorius, Sherlock's Jewel.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
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