By Alan Carasso
Heavily favored to run his unbeaten streak to three, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing's Integration (Quality Road) made his off price of 4-5 look like an early Christmas gift, as he parlayed a perfect trip into a dominating victory in Saturday's $250,000 GII Hill Prince S. at Aqueduct.
Away without incident from the three hole, the $700,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga graduate fell into the ideal spot from third, racing in clear air, as 65-1 Laurel Valley (Laoban) set a solid pace in advance of a headstrong Equitize (GB) (Kingman {GB}), the 5-1 second pick making his first start since breaking his maiden in impressive fashion at Tampa in mid-March. Settled well off that leading duo down the backstretch, Integration began to take closer order and edged out into the three path for a clean shot at the leaders around the turn. Three wide on the swing for home, the bay drifted out several paths into the middle of the course, but kicked on decisively to put the Hill Prince well and truly out of reach. The well-backed I'm Very Busy (Cloud Computing) made a middle move passing the half-mile to race inside of thee eventual winner, but was no match late and finished runner-up ahead of Toofareastiswest (Street Sense) in third. According to DRF Formulator, Integration sprinted his final eighth of a mile in a wicked :10.85.
A towering 6 1/2-length debut winner on the Arlington Million undercard at Colonial Aug. 12, Intergration upset the Sept. 9 GIII Virginia Derby from farther off the pace as a 13-2 chance when last seen.
“I always liked this horse. He just had little things and we had to stop–nothing major,” said winning trainer Shug McGaughey. “He had a little splint and we had to back off of him. I made one good move–which I don't make that many times [laughs]–when I sent him down to Fair Hill. I think he really liked that–the paddock, training, breezing on the Tapeta. I think that was a good move. He went before Saratoga.”
The Hall of Fame conditioner said the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf in early January is a potential objective.
Added victorious jockey Kendrick Carmouche: “Those horses in front of me were going pretty well. I was sitting on the rail at the beginning, and I angled him out to the three path where they couldn't keep me in there. This horse did everything on his own. This is a monster.
He continued, “I appreciate Shug [McGaughey], West Point, and Bill Farish [of Woodford Thoroughbreds], everybody. They could have gone with anyone in the jock's room and they kept me on. That means a lot.”
Pedigree Notes:
Integration was bred by Larkin Armstrong, who purchased the colt's dam for $80,000 at the 2014 Keeneland September sale, having previously acquired second dam Mesa Fresca for $15,000 at the 2011 Keeneland November sale. Trained for Armstrong by Bill Mott, Harmonize became one of the leading turf fillies of her generation in 2016, taking out the GI Del Mar Oaks before finishing runner-up behind Time and Motion (Tapit) in that year's GI QE II Challenge Cup at Keeneland.
Integration is one of two winners from two to race from the mare, whose current 2-year-old Catch a Wave (Curlin)–a $400,000 Keeneland September graduate–is in training at Fair Hill, where he worked three-eighths of a mile in :38.40 earlier Saturday. Behind that is the yearling filly Castanet (Nyquist), a weanling colt by Gun Runner and Harmonize is expecting a foal by Flightline next season.
Given all his success with his dirt runners, it might be easy to overlook the fact that Quality Road has been a sire of high-class turf horses. Four of his 14 elite-level scorers have achieved that designation on the turf: Bleecker Street, Hootenanny–whose dam was by Hennessy–Illuminant and Spring Quality. The likes of Astronaut, Cairo, Cowboy Culture and Lonely are among his additional graded/group winners on the grass.
Integration! pic.twitter.com/4MJQGzraMJ
— West Point Tbred (@westpointtbred) November 18, 2023
Saturday, Aqueduct
HILL PRINCE S.-GII, $250,000, Aqueduct, 11-18, 3yo, 1 1/8mT, 1:47.06, fm.
1–INTEGRATION, 120, c, 3, by Quality Road
1st Dam: Harmonize (GISW, $827,860),
by Scat Daddy
2nd Dam: Mesa Fresca, by Sky Mesa
3rd Dam: Mayan Maiden, by Lyphard
($700,000 Ylg '21 FTSAUG). O-West Point Thoroughbreds and
Woodford Racing, LLC; B-Larkin Armstrong (KY); T-Claude R.
McGaughey III; J-Kendrick Carmouche. $137,500. Lifetime
Record: 3-3-0-0, $473,500. Werk Nick Rating: A+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–I'm Very Busy, 118, c, 3, Cloud Computing–Two Kisses, by
Kissin Kris. ($50,000 Ylg '21 EASOCT; $135,000 2yo '22
OBSMAR). O-Team Hanley, Richard Schermerhorn and Paul
Braverman; B-Glenn E. Brok LLC & Mark Toothaker (PA);
T-Chad C. Brown. $50,000.
3–Toofareastiswest, 118, c, 3, Street Sense–Empress Maker,
by Empire Maker. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE.
($120,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Paul Braverman, Timothy Pinch
and Gold Square LLC; B-Bonne Chance Farm LLC (KY);
T-Michael J. Trombetta. $30,000.
Margins: 5, 1, HD. Odds: 0.80, 5.60, 34.25.
Also Ran: Freedom Trail, Faraday, Laurel Valley, Equitize (GB), Classic Catch, Quality Chic. Scratched: Crupi.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
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