Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence's Patternrecognition (Adios Charlie) has been improving with each start since the Saratoga meet and took his game to the next level with a wire-to-wire victory in the prestigious GI Cigar Mile at Aqueduct Saturday.
Away quickest of all from the outside post in this eight-horse affair, the 5-1 shot clicked off early fractions of :22.88 and :45.68 with GI Travers S. runner-up Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy) and New York-bred MSW Pat On the Back (Congrats) hot on his heels. Traveling comfortably into the far turn under a motionless Jose Ortiz, Patternrecognition kept on finding in the lane, holding off a late bid from longshot True Timber (Mineshaft) to win by 3/4 of a length. Hard-knocking Jersey-bred Sunny Ridge (Holy Bull) completed the trifecta. Bumped at the start and forced to steady off heels, heavily favored Copper Town (Speightstown) attempted a six-wide run turning for home, but never made a serious bid and faded to last.
“It went great. He broke out of there very sharply,” said winning rider Jose Ortiz, who was having quite a day after welcoming his second child Derek Ortiz into the world early Saturday morning. “The way he broke, I didn't want to give the lead away, so I used my own judgment and took a shot and went straight to the rail and took the lead. He got pressured pretty good. I took a big risk because those weren't the instructions, but it worked out.”
“This horse is a rare horse,” winning conditioner Chad Brown, who captured the 2016 renewal of this test with Connect (Curlin). “He's got that speed and he can carry it. I'm very proud of the judgment Jose [Ortiz] used today. I left it up to him and the fractions concerned me a touch, but this horse showed his heart.”
“To get to this point was a lot of team work, and credit to my staff for doing a great job with this horse,” said Brown. “Obviously, he's had some soundness issues along the way and I want to thank the owners as well, Seth Klarman and Bill Lawrence, for never giving up on this horse. He needed the time and they gave him the time to always get healthy when we needed to rest the horse. Ultimately, he showed the talent that we thought he had when they bought him what seems like forever ago as a 2-year-old and this is really a great moment for this horse. He deserves it.”
Only off the board once in his brief career, Patternrecognition finished second to True Timber after setting the early pace in a a Belmont optional claimer June 10 and returned to winning ways next out in a seven-panel event at Saratoga Aug. 11. The Florida-bred entered this test off a front-running success in Belmont's one-mile GII Kelso H. Sept. 22.
Pedigree Notes:
Patternrecognition is the first Grade I winner and just the second graded stakes winner for Adios Charlie. He is also the Florida stallion's seventh black-type victor. The 5-year-old is a half-brother to MSW Florida Fuego (Kantharos) and a full to stakes-winning juvenile of this year Lovesick. Their dam Almost A Valentine is a half-sister to Grade I winner Rigoletta (Concerto), who is the dam of GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile hero and 'TDN Rising Star' Battle of Midway (Smart Strike). The 9-year-old mare produced colts by The Big Beast in both 2017 and 2018. She was bred back to Uncaptured earlier this term. This is also the family of champion Musical Romance (Concorde's Tune), GSW Gourmet Dinner (Trippi) and MSW & GSP Forevamo (Uncle Mo).
Saturday, Aqueduct
CIGAR MILE H. PRESENTED BY NYRA BETS-GI, $784,125, Aqueduct, 12-1, 3yo/up, 1m, 1:34.98, ft.
1–PATTERNRECOGNITION, 118, h, 5, by Adios Charlie
1st Dam: Almost a Valentine, by High Cotton
2nd Dam: Almost Aprom Queen, by Montbrook
3rd Dam: Romantic Dinner, by Who's for Dinner
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($420,000 2yo '15 OBSAPR). O-Klaravich
Stables, Inc. & William H. Lawrence; B-Ocala Stud (FL); T-Chad
C. Brown; J-Jose L. Ortiz. $433,125. Lifetime Record: 11-5-5-0,
$812,325. *1/2 to Florida Fuego (Kantharos), MSW, $172,508;
full to Lovesick, SW. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–True Timber, 116, c, 4, Mineshaft–Queen's Wood, by Tiznow.
($170,000 Wlg '14 KEENOV). O-Calumet Farm; B-Mr. & Mrs.
Marc C. Ferrell (KY); T-Kiaran P. McLaughlin. $157,500.
3–Sunny Ridge, 118, g, 5, Holy Bull–Lignum Vitae, by
Songandaprayer. O/B-Dennis Drazin (NJ); T-Jason Servis.
$94,500.
Margins: 3/4, 1, 1HF. Odds: 5.40, 31.50, 6.00.
Also Ran: Mendelssohn, Pat On the Back, Stan the Man, Timeline, Copper Town.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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