By Tim Wilkin
SARATOGA SPRINGS — At the top of the stretch of the opener of the Saturday card at Saratoga Race Course, a 2-year-old colt named Jonathan's Way (Vekoma) was fanned six, maybe seven wide.
But he was moving and, like a giant tidal wave, gathering momentum with each long, powerful stride.
Out in California, Richard Rigney, who owns the colt, was watching the race on a cellphone along with bloodstock agent John Moynihan. They had hope, but they also were realists. After all, the six-furlong race was the first in Jonathan's Way career
“I was thinking, 'this horse has to stop at some point,” Moynihan said by phone from the West Coast, “because he is going to get tired at some point.”
Jonathan's Way stopped alright. After he won the $100,000 maiden special weight by an emphatic 4 1/4 lengths. It didn't look like he was tired at all.
“This,” trainer Phil Bauer said in the Saratoga winner's circle, “was very visually impressive.”
“We have been really excited about this horse for a long time,” Rigney said.
Moynihan has been working with Rigney for four years and picked out Jonathan's Way at the 2022 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. He was purchased for $290,000.
Phil Bauer | Sarah Andrew
“John bought this horse as a weanling,” Rigney said. “We bought five or six weanlings at the time and got some real nice Vekomas out of it.”
Bauer said that three of the young horses he has in the barn are from Vekoma's first crop. Moynihan was impressed with the look of the young weanling that would become Jonathan's Way when he saw him at the Keeneland sale.
“He is a beautiful, beautiful horse,” Moynihan said. “He was the prettiest horse that sold day as I remember. He was later on in the book, by a freshman horse in Vekoma, but he was a gorgeous individual and we thought we would take a swing at him. We were lucky enough to get him. He was absolutely gorgeous; he has been gorgeous all his life.”
On Saturday, Jonathan's Way was the third 2-1 third choice in the field of nine. Ridden by Hall of Famer Joel Rosario, Jonathan's Way had an auspicious start when he was taken up while being pinched back between horses and then had to come from off the pace.
For a young horse to go through that and then race wide, he showed Bauer, Rigney and Moynihan some raw talent. He ran the six furlongs in 1:10.40 on a track labeled fast and returned $6.40.
“He got a little green with the dirt and Joel got into him,” Bauer said. “He put Joel in the backseat. He was fit enough, he was on the bridle and then he was just clearly the best.”
Rigney said he named the horse for his 17-year-old son, Jonathan. In fact, he names a lot of his horses for his children. In addition to Jonathan, he has 14-year-old twin daughters Madison and Claire who get horses for their names.
Rigney and Moynihan were in California to run Buchu (Justify), a 3-year-old filly, in the $300,000, GI Del Mar Oaks on Saturday.
There might be reason for another trip to California in November if Jonathan's Way earns his way to the Breeders' Cup. Of course, that is a long way off. Bauer said the next step for the colt could be the GIII Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs on Sept. 14 or the GI Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland on Oct. 5.
“We could not be any happier with how this went,” Rigney said. “We are very fortunate.”
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