Materiality punches ticket to Kentucky with Florida Derby win
Today’s Grade 1 Besilu Stables Florida Derby was an extreme case of déjà vu. A lightly raced Todd Pletcher trainee. Undefeated in two career starts. Well backed by bettors to go to post as the second choice. A victory. The only difference between last year and this year is that it was Materiality, rather than Constitution, who was draped with the winner’s garland and getting his photo taken after the dust settled.
With just two starts, and two wins, under his belt, Materiality was still bet down to the 9-5 post time second choice. Breaking from post 7 under jockey John Velazquez, the bay colt immediately went to the front to duel with Jack Tripp for the lead. Trading the lead back and forth, the duo set sensible fractions of :23.89/:48.24 for the opening half. Upstart closely stalked the leading pair in third with Fountain of Youth winner Itsaknockout four spots behind him in seventh.
With a half mile to go, Jack Tripp began to back pedal on the rail while Upstart moved up to confront Materiality from the outside. Approaching the far turn, Materiality and Upstart began to pull away from the field, but behind them, Itsaknockout and Ami’s Flatter were put to the drive. With three-quarters put up in 1:12.51, Materiality and Upstart were 7 lengths ahead of their closest rival, Ami’s Flatter, who had moved into third.
At the top of the stretch, Materiality and Upstart continued to engage one another in their own private match race, but it was Materiality who had the advantage. Racing closest to the rail, Materiality had seized the lead and was bound and determined that he was not going to concede defeat. Concede he did not. As the duo approached the wire, Materiality put Upstart away for good, pulling clear to win by 1 ½ lengths in a final time of 1:52.30 for the 9 furlongs on a fast track.
Winning trainer Todd Pletcher said things played out according to plan. “It shaped up the way Johnny (Velazquez) and I talked about after the previous race (Islamorada Stakes),” he said. “We thought about the way it might set up, that the 2 (Jack Tripp) might show some speed, Materiality might be laying in a stalking-type position. We felt that Upstart would probably have us as his primary target, and all of that unfolded exactly like we talked about.”
Disqualified to 2nd in the Fountain of Youth, Upstart once again found himself on the losing side of a determined stretch drive. Ami’s Flatter finished 3rd, 6 ½ lengths behind Materiality. Itsaknockout raced evenly to round out the superfecta. Dekabrist, Indianaughty, My Point Exactly, Quimet and Jack Tripp completed the order of finish.
The stretch run was reminiscent of the stretch drive in the Fountain of Youth between Upstart and Itsaknockout. Racing side by side, it looked as though there may have been some “fair play” contact between Materiality and Upstart but nothing by comparison to the drifting number Upstart pulled in the Fountain of Youth.
Winning rider John Velazquez described the stretch run thusly, “We got very close (to Upstart), that’s for sure. We got out a little further than I thought I did. I had my head down, looking over to make sure I didn’t bump him. There was a little brushing, maybe, but there was no contact. I was very conscious to pull back in and you can see the two horses spread apart.” Velazquez continued on, saying, “He felt strong the whole way around. The way he came back like Todd said from 22 days ago…we hooked up at the half-mile pole—that’s a lot of running.”
Off at 9-5 odds, Materiality paid $5.60/$3.00/$2.40 for the win. Even money favorite Upstart returned $2.60/$2.20 for the place, and a show bet on Ami’s Flatter was worth $3.00. The $2 exacta paid $11.00, the $0.50 trifecta returned $8.30 and the $0.10 superfecta was worth $2.83.
Trainer Rick Violette, Jr., who saddled Upstart, could not have been unhappier about drawing the 9 hole before or especially after the race. “I don’t want to hear from the guys that say, ‘Don’t worry about the nine hole,’ because it made all the difference. If we had (Materiality) on our hip the whole way, maybe the result would have been different.” Displeased with the way things played out, Violette, Jr. still gave credit where credit was due. “(Materiality) beat us fair and square. He is obviously a very nice horse, he comes off a really fast race and didn’t regress,” he acknowledged.
By Afleet Alex and out of the Langfuhr mare Wildwood Flower, Materiality is owned by Alto Racing, LLC. Bred by John D. Gunther, the 3-year old colt was consigned as a yearling in the Keeneland 2013 September Yearling Sale by Glenwood Farm where he was bought by Venture Racing for $260,000. He was then pinhooked and consigned as a 2-year old in the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2014 Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale by agent De Meric Sales. Agent Steven W. Young then snapped up the son of Afleet Alex for $400,000. Today’s win kept Materiality undefeated in 3 career starts and pushed his total purse money to $660,828. He also earned 100 points toward qualifying for the Kentucky Derby. Upstart earned 40 points, Ami’s Flatter received 20 points and Itsaknockout added 10 more points to his total.
Though not explicitly stated, it can be inferred that Materiality’s next stop will be at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. He has the “Apollo Curse” to contend with, but trainer Todd Pletcher is high on his latest Florida Derby winner. “You don’t see it happen very often, but you don’t see horses win their second start off of one six-furlong maiden win and then go a mile-and-an-eighth in exceptional time. So I think he stamped himself as a very legitimate horse at that point. But it takes a special one to do that,” he explained.
Runner-up Upstart’s Derby status is up in the air for now. Violette, Jr. is taking the wait and see approach in regards to how he cools out and exits the race. If he continues to stay at the top of his game, then he will likely have a rematch with Materiality in five weeks.