Fact Finding remains perfect with Smooth Air romp
Three tracks, three distances, and now just a bit of slop thrown in, the common denominator remains Fact Finding winning in relative ease. Today it was the Smooth Air Stakes on a rain soaked main track at Gulfstream Park for the Stonestreet, Magnier, Tabor, and Smith owned youngster, and once again, the undefeated juvenile proved up to the task with a smart front running score by seven widening lengths.
A $100,000 Keeneland yearling purchase, Fact Finding made his career debut for trainer Todd Pletcher on Whitney day at Saratoga. Let go at 6-1 first-out, the gray colt stalked and pounced his way to a good-looking 2 ¼-length victory over next out winner Casses Story in the six-furlong maiden race. Building off that debut win, but not rushed back, the product of the Deputy Commander mare, Sweet Belle, came back in a 6 ½-furlong allowance race at Keeneland two months later. Once again, Fact Finding was a little too much for his competition and rolled home, this time by 4 ½-lengths. Now, with another two months between races, the son of The Factor was ready to make his stakes debut.
Breaking from the rail under the only race day rider he has ever known, Fact Finding and John Velazquez were sent off a slight 8-5 favorite in the field of seven. Carrying the familiar gold and burgundy silks of Stonestreet, he went straight to the lead, but was soon hounded by the 17-10 second choice, Basha. The stage was set for the two undefeated colts to test each other down the Gulfstream backstretch.
Cutting through the slop through solid early fractions of :23.13 and :46.51, Basha gave everything he had at the Pletcher runner. On the turn, Velazquez needed to get into the favorite just a bit to make sure he knew he wanted more, and Fact Finding responded. By the time the field hit the stretch, he had a working margin. With no one else in the field able to make any headway, Fact Finding was left to methodically pull away from his vanquished foe, and cruise to his most impressive win yet.
His Hall of Fame trainer explained how Fact Finding is not all that impressive in the mornings, but he brings it in the afternoons. “He’s kind of handled everything we’ve asked him to do so far,” said Pletcher. “The owners have been very patient letting him find his way along,” Pletcher said. “He’s very laidback in the morning. We really weren’t sure what we had until we ran him. He’s one of those horses that kind of saves himself in the morning. We really didn’t know what we had until we ran him.”
Final time for the eight furlongs was a very respectable 1:36.98. As the chalk, Fact Finding returned $5.20, $3.00, and $2.40 across the board. Basha was able to easily hold on to the place, triggering a chalky 1-4 exacta for $13.80. Skinflint was much the best of the rest. The longshot completed a trifecta which paid a healthy $233.60.
With the victory, Fact Finding raised his record to 3-3-0-0, with earnings of $132,570. While he has jumped forward in distance with each start, he will need to prove he can handle two-turns before making his way to the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May, but so far, so good.
“He showed us today that he should be able to handle the stretch-out from a mile,” Pletcher said. “The time stacked up favorable for the day. It was a quality effort from him.” As is the norm in recent years, he is far from the only talented colt in the Pletcher barn heading to the new year. In fact, Pletcher won four stakes today at Gulfstream, and all with juveniles. It will be interesting to see which path the racing career of Fact Finding takes as a three-year-old, because this undefeated colt’s future looks nothing but bright.