It Tiz Well upset Abel Tasman in the Cotillion
Abel Tasman, sat on top of the three-year-old filly division as she came into the $1,000,000 Cotillion looking to win her fourth consecutive grade one stakes. That was not to be on a very hot September afternoon at Parx Racing, as the 3-5 favorite was defeated by It Tiz Well by a margin of two lengths.
On this day, Abel Tasman broke slowly and she and regular rider, Hall of Famer Mike Smith, found themselves toward the back of the field. This was similar to what happened in her last victory in the Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga.
At the front of the field of eleven, Lockdown had seized the lead and the rail to carve out the early fractions with It Tiz Well in second place just to the outside of the leader. The first quarter went in 23.26 and at that time Abel Tasman sat in ninth position.
It was then that Smith went back to the strategy that worked at Saratoga and he and Abel Tasman commenced a bold middle move up the rail where they went from ninth to second in the next half mile.
“She has been breaking slow of late then she wants to gather herself up and wants to catch up at one time,” said Smith. “Too much to do. I could have stayed way wide, but I would have been too wide and she still would have wanted to make that move and I would have been too wide, the inside is wide open and she was pulling me so hard and she just took me there and I thought maybe she could pull it off from here but it was too much to do.”
The half mile fraction was 47.27 and three-quarters for the leader was 1:11.37, but Abel Tasman went much faster while she made up that much ground. At that point, she engaged in a head to head battle with Lockdown, while It Tiz Well sat patiently outside of them.
Drayden Van Dyke, the rider of It Tiz Well said, “I saw Mike [Smith], make that move on the inside and it was really to my advantage cause it kind of made that horse on the lead pick it up a little bit and it made the pace a little stronger.”
Eventually, Abel Tasman was able to pass Lockdown, but It Tiz Well had more left at the end of the mile and a sixteenth and easily went past Abel Tasman, who finished ¾ of a length ahead of Lockdown.
A disappointed Bob Baffert said about Abel Tasman, “She falls right back, then she gets rank. We’re going to have do something there, maybe take the blinkers off of her, because it was a shame that she made that big move but couldn’t finish. She got away with it last time, but today was just too much for her. We’ll just play it by ear with her.”
This was the first grade one victory for the Jerry Hollendorfer trainee, It Tiz Well, and she upped her career record to 10: 5-2-2 with earnings of $1,186,840.
Van Dyke added, “She ran today like she ran at Delaware Park [July 8, Delaware Oaks] set off the pace and relaxed and when I called upon her she responded. She was perfect.”
It Tiz Well was made the 5.30-1 second betting choice and she paid $12.60, $4.60, $3.20 across the board. The $2 exacta with Abel Tasman returned $34.60 and the $2 trifecta with Lockdown was worth $136.20.
Hollendorfer’s assistant, Dan Ward commented, “She has been running good races and improving all the time. I thought we had a good chance. I thought we might get that trip. She did a super job.”
With the second place finish, Abel Tasman still sits atop the three-year-old filly division with her three grade one victories, but maybe she has not quite clinched the Championship.