By Brian DiDonato
There appeared on paper to be a lack of pace in Saturday's GI Jackpocket Jaipur S., but that could only mean one thing–the two back markers, Bill Mott pupils Casa Creed (Jimmy Creed) and Chewing Gum (Candy Ride {Arg}), flew home from out of the clouds to cap a near $168 exacta for a buck. With the victory, Casa Creed also earned an automatic berth into the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint this fall. Even-money favorite Bound for Nowhere (The Factor) could only manage third after being pestered on the lead.
Off last and scrubbed on to keep pace, Casa Creed passed Chewing Gum early on as he traveled in the two path behind splits of :22.06 and :44.65. Still with lots to do at the head of the lane as Bound for Nowhere seemed to still have horse, Casa Creed began to inhale foes down the center of the track. He seemed to take announcer John Imbriale by surprise as he blew past the leader near the sixteenth pole, and Chewing Gum mirrored that one's move to make it all about Mott.
“[Casa Creed] ran great,” said Mott, who had won the Jaipur three times previously. “It looks like sprints suit him, for sure.”
Casa Creed had been competing primarily in turf miles, and took the seven-furlong Elusive Quality S.–named for one of Mott's prior Jaipur winners–here Apr. 24.
“I missed the break a little,” winning pilot Junior Alvarado admitted. “I got worried right away because when sprinting the last thing you want to do is break slow. The first sixteenth of a mile, I was last and he was going so fast. I was thinking that they had to be going pretty quick up front. He started picking it up little by little and still going so fast. As soon as I turned for home and put him in the clear, I asked him a bit and then he pulled the reins out of my hands. It was a beautiful run from the three-sixteenths to the wire.”
Alvarado continued, “He's versatile. He's been unlucky with races, but he's always been hard knocking. He gets beat, but gets beat trying against really nice horses. We started figuring it out these past couple of races. He showed today that he's a serious sprinter.”
Casa Creed's prior career highlight came when he took the GII National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame S. in 2019. He went winless last year with a third in the GI Fourstardave H. and 12th in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. Second in Gulfstream's GIII Tropical Turf S. again over eight panels Jan. 9, the bay was a close sixth in the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile S. at Santa Anita Mar. 6 before ending his winless drought in the Elusive Quality.
Casa Creed is owned by Lee Einsidler's LRE Racing and Mike Francesa's JEH Racing.
Saturday, Belmont
JACKPOCKET JAIPUR S.-GI, $400,000, Belmont, 6-5, 3yo/up, 6fT, 1:08.04, gd.
1–CASA CREED, 120, h, 5, by Jimmy Creed
1st Dam: Achalaya, by Bellamy Road
2nd Dam: Wild Heart Dancing, by Farma Way
3rd Dam: Star of Wicklow, by Fast Play
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($15,000 Ylg '17 OBSWIN; $105,000 Ylg '17
KEESEP). O-LRE Racing LLC and JEH Racing Stable LLC; B-Silver
Springs Stud, LLC (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Junior Alvarado.
$220,000. Lifetime Record: 20-5-3-3, $755,408. *1/2 to
Chess's Dream (Jess's Dream), GSW, $166,680. Werk Nick
Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Chewing Gum, 120, h, 6, Candy Ride (Arg)–Shared Heart, by
Forestry. O-Wachtel Stable, Pantofel Stable and Zaro, Jerold L.;
B-Wertheimer Et Frere (KY); T-William I. Mott. $80,000.
3–Bound for Nowhere, 124, h, 7, The Factor–Fancy Deed, by
Alydeed. ($310,000 Ylg '15 KEESEP). O/T-Wesley A. Ward;
B-Wayne, Gray & Bryan Lyster (KY). $48,000.
Margins: 2, 3/4, HD. Odds: 10.80, 28.00, 1.00.
Also Ran: Stubbins, Got Stormy, Fast Boat, Gregorian Chant (GB), Greyes Creek, Sombeyay. Scratched: Completed Pass, Oleksandra (Aus), Secret Rules. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
Pedigree Notes:
Casa Creed is one of four graded winners, and the first Grade I winner, for well-regarded value sire Jimmy Creed. One of those four is Kanthaka, who missed by a neck in this even last season. Casa Creed is one of only two graded winners out of a Bellamy Road mare–the other is Casa Creed's half-brother Chess's Dream (Jess's Dream), winner of January's GIII Kitten's Joy S.
Florida-based breeder Loren Nichols bought dam Achalaya for $15,000 while she was carrying Chess's Dream at the 2018 OBS Winter Mixed Sale. He bought her back for $195,000 at KEENOV '19 while she was carrying a Distorted Humor colt. Achalaya, a daughter of MGSW turfer Wild Heart Dancing from the family of GISW Man from Wicklow (Turkoman), most recently visited Omaha Beach.
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