WellSpring Stables' Leave No Trace (Outwork), overlooked at 14-1 stepping up from restricted maiden company, proved best in Sunday's GI Spinaway S. at Saratoga to give trainer Phil Serpe his first top-level success since 1993.
Bought for just $40,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Midlantic October yearling, the dark bay scored a professional 2 3/4-length victory while wrapped up later against auction price-restricted foes here July 20. That effort earned a co-field best 77 Beyer, but Irad Ortiz, Jr. departed to ride Aunt Shirley (Justify) in here and Leave No Trace drifted up to nearly double her 8-1 morning-line estimate by post.
Finding a good spot tracking the pace of GIII Adirondack S. heroine Naughty Gal (Into Mischief) from second through a :22.84 quarter under Jose Lezcano, Leave No Trace was pushed on to go as the half went up in a moderate :46.66. Drawing in on the pacesetter alongside of favored Wonder Wheel (Into Mischief) as Kaling (Practical Joke) also threw her hat in the ring from the rail, Leave No Trace poked her head in front at the three-sixteenths pole, inched away from Kaling entering the final furlong and was always doing enough to hold Wonder Wheel at bay in deep stretch.
“Her first race was impressive,” Serpe said. “I don't swear by Beyer numbers and sheet numbers, but I do use them as a tool. Her numbers were good, she was training great, she worked 59 and change for fun. You've got to go and make hay when the sun shines. You got to take a shot. That's what racing is. She's been impressive since before we ever left Belmont. She was working well, easily in 47 and change, and you have to be impressed with a horse like that. If you look at her, she's gorgeous. She went through a growth spurt in the spring. She's grown six inches in every direction which is what you want a horse to do in August going into September. It was everything you would like.”
“I think she's a very nice filly,” added Lezcano. “I never touched her before. She broke so well and she was right there. I really didn't have to do too much. I let her [have] things her way and she did everything. When I asked her, she went on and won the race. I had a lot of horse going to the five-sixteenths. The way she did it, she did it so easy. I'm not surprised the way she did it. She traveled like a good horse, and she is.”
The victory gave Serpe, whose barn won only four races in 2021 but is having a much better season this year, his first Grade I win since his Birdonthewire captured the 1993 GI Vosburgh S.
“It's great,” he said. “We are really, really happy for the people who own this horse. They're great people, they're deserving and it's all around a great feeling for everyone.”
Pedigree Notes:
With the victory, Leave No Trace becomes the eighth stakes winner, first graded stakes winner and first Grade I winner for WinStar Farm's Outwork, who captured the GI Wood Memorial S. in 2016. She is the second foal to race out of Tanquerray, a four-time winner on grass who has a yearling full-sister to the winner and produced a Notional colt this term before returning to that sire.
Sunday, Saratoga
SPINAWAY S.-GI, $300,000, Saratoga, 9-4, 2yo, f, 7f, 1:24.03, ft.
1–LEAVE NO TRACE, 120, f, 2, by Outwork
1st Dam: Tanquerray, by Good Journey
2nd Dam: Kitty Galore, by Mountain Cat
3rd Dam: Patriot Star, by Torsion
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($8,000 Ylg '21 FTKFEB; $40,000 Ylg '21 EASOCT). O-WellSpring Stables; B-Red Cloak Farm, LLC (KY); T-Philip M. Serpe; J-Jose Lezcano. $165,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $210,650. Werk Nick Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Wonder Wheel, 122, f, 2, by Into Mischief
1st Dam: Wonder Gal (MSW & MGISP, $904,800), by Tiz Wonderful
2nd Dam: Passe, by Dixie Union
3rd Dam: Gal On the Go, by Irgun
1ST GRADED BLACK-TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK-TYPE. ($275,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-D. J. Stable LLC; B-Three Chimneys Farm, LLC & Clearsky Farms (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. $60,000.
3–Kaling, 120, f, 2, by Practical Joke
1st Dam: Proud Indian, by Indian Charlie
2nd Dam: Shufflin n Seatle, by Seattle Slew
3rd Dam: Darby Shuffle, by Darby Creek Road
1ST BLACK-TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK-TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK-TYPE. ($220,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners; B-John R. & Frank Penn (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $36,000.
Margins: 1HF, 1 1/4, HF. Odds: 14.80, 1.45, 3.85.
Also Ran: American Rockette, Sabra Tuff, Just Cindy, Apple Picker, Aunt Shirley, Naughty Gal, Miss Georgie.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPshttp://www.equineline.com/tdn/pedigree.cfm?tk=SAR&cy=USA&rd=09/07/2015&rn=9&de=D &ref=9104432. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
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