Outplay dominates the Curlin Stakes gate to wire
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Outplay may not have been good enough to take on the big boys of the division this weekend in the Haskell or the Jim Dandy, but he soon may be good enough. His developing talents were on full display this afternoon at Saratoga, as he cruised down the stretch to an emphatic victory in the $100,000 Curlin Stakes.
The three-year-old son of Bernardini was sent off as the 2-1 second choice in today's feature, coming in off a third-place finish in the Easy Goer at Belmont Park, which was his stakes debut. Meanwhile, You're to Blame was made the 13-10 post time favorite after having passed Outplay late to get up for second in the Easy Goer.
Ridden by Hall of Fame rider, John Velazquez, Outplay went right to the lead, after a quick start out of the gate. The Todd Pletcher runner, wearing the familiar blue and orange silks of owner Mike Repole, led the group of seven down the Saratoga backstretch through sensible early fractions of :24.06 and :48.71.
A few horses in the field tried to make it interesting by making their move on the turn. The most serious of those challenges came from Small Bear, who lapped onto Outplay, as the field approached the stretch run. That test was quickly passed, though, as he spurted clear while straightening out for the stretch.
Outplay was a little green down the lane, as he weaved in and out while shying away from the whip, but was only adding to his margin as they approached the finish line. With no challengers coming late, he cruised to the wire a 5 3/4-length winner.
The final time for the nine furlongs over the fast main track at Saratoga was 1:50.59. Small Bear had no answer for the winner in the stretch, but was good enough to hold second over Perfect Partner, who edged You're to Blame for third.
"We knew there wasn't much pace in the race other than Chad's horse [No. 7 You're to Blame] so coming in Todd and I talked and felt that we'd run to the first turn and see where we are and it all worked out from there," said the winning rider, Johnny V. "When he won at Belmont, I hit him right-handed and he kind of ducked away from the whip. He did it again today, I don't know why. He didn't do it in his last race, but he didn't win so I didn't have to ride him so hard."
Today's impressive win in the Curlin demonstrates that Outplay is still getting better, but it also flatters the horse who beat him rather easily last time, West Coast. That one since came back to win the Los Alamitos Derby, as well, and is headed to the Travers next for trainer, Bob Baffert.
As the second choice, Outplay returned $6.10, $3.80, and $3.10 across the board. The $2 exacta over Small Bear was good for $27.60, while the 2-3-6 triple, completed by Perfect Partner, returned $214.00.
With the victory, Outplay raised his career record to 7-3-2-1, and his lifetime earnings to $163,000. Since fading to fifth in his career debut last fall, the $275,000 two-year-old in training purchase last March has not failed to fire. Now a veteran of two straight stakes races, and the winner of one, it would appear that the future is bright for the speedy bay colt.
As for his immediate future, his trainer made no commitments. "I don't know for sure," said Pletcher. "I don't want to commit to the Travers yet. He did have a huge win at Parx earlier in the year; the Pennsylvania Derby could make some sense, but I'll talk to Mr. Repole about it. I'm sure he'd be excited to run in the Travers. We'll see how things go tomorrow and how the Travers shapes up and go from there."
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