By Alan Carasso
Favored in the betting right up until the final bit of money poured into the pools, Track Phantom (Quality Road) took control of Saturday's GIII Lecomte S. at a chilly Fair Grounds Racecourse right from the opening bell and never looked like losing, leading past every pole to pick up 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Having earned 10 points for his victory in the local Gun Runner S. at the tail end of 2023, Track Phantom now sits atop the leaderboard with GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and likely Eclipse Award winner Fierceness (City of Light).
Ultimately off as the somewhat surprising 7-5 second favorite behind 11-10 Nash (Medaglia d'Oro)–the 'TDN Rising Star' whom he easily defeated into third in the Gun Runner–Track Phantom was once again ridden positively by the visiting Joel Rosario and managed to cross down to the rail without doing a bunch of work, as the first couple of furlongs was posted in :24:01. Nash was pulled out into the two path to prompt the pace, while Lat Long (Liam's Map) sat three deep in the breeze just off the leaders.
Track Phantom continued to enjoy a reasonably easy time of things on the lead–the half went in :48.36–and Florent Geroux began to get urgent atop Nash three furlongs out. Despite being asked to quicken, the chalk was making no material impact, and Track Phantom turned them in as very much the one to run down. Finally asked for a bit of a kick by Rosario, the $500,000 Keeneland September purchase carried an imposing advantage into the final eighth of a mile and was never in serious danger while remaining perfect in three starts around two turns. Nash's best was second best, and the two put some 8 1/2 lengths on Lat Long in third.
A debut third going Churchill's one-turn mile Oct. 1, Track Phantom improved one spot over that same course and trip four weeks later, then decisively defeated Lat Long in a mile-and-a-sixteenth maiden Nov. 25. No better than the third choice in the Gun Runner, the bay settled nicely off a much quicker early tempo, surged to the front nearing the lane and went on to score by 1 1/4 lengths, with Nash a further length and three-quarters away in third at 1-2.
“He is a very nice horse and we're fortunate to have him for such a great ownership group,” said trainer Steve Asmussen, unsaddling the Lecomte winner for the fourth time. “I love how he's running here. I love the 3-year-old series at Fair Grounds and we plan on continuing in it. We couldn't be any more proud of the horse. He's won all three of his two-turn races, he's got a beautiful way of going and I think he's just going to get better. He's getting stronger all the time and we're just excited to be in this position.”
Pedigree Notes:
A 39th graded stakes winner for his sire, Track Phantom is the fifth such winner for Into Mischief as a broodmare sire.
Raced by Alan Klein and Phil Lebherz, California-bred Miss Sunset was trained by Jeff Bonde and recorded the most important victory of her career in the 2017 GII Lexus Raven Run S. at Keeneland. The bay added a further three black-type wins as a 4-year-old in 2018 and was knocked down to Breeze Easy for $825,000 at that year's Fasig-Tipton November Sale.
Miss Sunset is the dam of the newly turned 2-year-old colt Crystal Pearl (Curlin), a $1.1-million purchase by Lauren Carlisle at Keeneland September last fall, and the mare's yearling full-brother to Track Phantom was hammered down to Cavalier Bloodstock for $335,000 at Fasig-Tipton last November. She is due to produce a foal from the first crop of Flightline this season.
#7 Track Phantom takes them gate-to-wire in the G3 Lecomte S. at Fair Grounds under @jrosariojockey for trainer Steve Asmussen! 🏆
It's 20 Kentucky Derby points for the son of Quality Road! 🌹
🎥 #TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/oJquMo3E4O
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) January 21, 2024
Saturday, Fair Grounds
LECOMTE S.-GIII, $194,000, Fair Grounds, 1-20, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:44.73, ft.
1–TRACK PHANTOM, 122, c, 3, by Quality Road
1st Dam: Miss Sunset (GSW & GISP, $891,895),
by Into Mischief
2nd Dam: Tuscan Sunset, by Trippi
3rd Dam: Icelandic Dancer, by Eskimo
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($500,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-L and
N Racing LLC, Clark O. Brewster, Jerry Caroom and Breeze
Easy, LLC; B-Breeze Easy, LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen;
J-Joel Rosario. $120,000. Lifetime Record: 5-3-1-1, $285,000.
Werk Nick Rating: A+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Nash, 122, c, 3, Medaglia d'Oro–Sara Louise, by Malibu
Moon. 'TDN Rising Star'. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE.
O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $40,000.
3–Lat Long, 122, c, 3, Liam's Map–Amen Sista, by Street Cry
(Ire). 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($160,000
Wlg '21 KEENOV; $130,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Walking L
Thoroughbreds, LLC; B-Town & Country Horse Farms, LLC (KY);
T-Kenneth G. McPeek. $20,000.
Margins: 2 3/4, 1 3/4, 8HF. Odds: 1.40, 1.10, 27.00.
Also Ran: Ethan Energy, Tizzy Indy, Can Group. Scratched: Awesome Road, Next Level.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
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