Smarten Up

When you have been in the game as long as Alfredo Velazquez, nobody has to tell you quite how long a journey divides slop-splattered defeat at Aqueduct on the first day of the year from Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. By the same token, however, the length of perspective opened by six decades on the racetrack gives persuasive substance to the Parx stalwart's excitement over Smarten Up (American Freedom), who graduated from a nine-length maiden romp at his home track to mount a storming finish for second...

1st-Parx Racing, $42,500, Msw, 11-22, 2yo, 1m 70y, 1:43.73, ft, 9 lengths. SMARTEN UP (c, 2, American Freedom--Sarah Cataldo, by Smarty Jones) finished with interest to be runner-up on seven-furlong debut at this track Sept. 25 and was exiting a pace-pressing third in a one-mile test Oct. 20, good for a strong 71 Beyer Speed Figure. Four wide around the first time and right on top of a strong early pace, the even-money chalk punched the breeze down the backstretch. Allowed to poke his head in front at the three-eighths...