Offering Plan Enjoys Perfect Trip in English Channel

Offering Plan enjoyed a perfect trip under Javier Castellano on Sunday, saving ground early and then rallying widest of all to upset the first running of the $100,000 English Channel for 3-year-olds at Belmont Park.

 

Settling in seventh behind a tightly bunched group on the front end, Offering Plan hugged the rail as the opening quarter-mile went in 23.22 seconds, with the half in 46.33. Edging closer on the far turn, the New York-bred Spring At Last colt was tipped out approaching the quarter-pole and hit his best stride in mid-stretch to cross the wire 1 ½ lengths in front of the late-charging Team Colors.

 

His winning time for the mile on the turf was 1:32.68.

 

"I had a beautiful trip, it set up perfectly," said Castellano. "I thought there was a lot of speed in the race and I had a good post. It was a perfect race for him. I saved all the ground in the first part of the race and whipped him outside to get the jump and find the last kick.

 

"[Offering Plan] was very impressive today, which didn't surprise me because of the way Chad Brown has been training [his horses] lately," he added.

 

The victory was the first stakes win for Offering Plan, who in his only two other starts this year took an allowance for state-breds and finished fifth in the Better Talk Now, both at Saratoga Race Course. At 2, he won a maiden race, finished third in the Grade 3 Pilgrim and 13^th in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

 

"We gave him a lengthy vacation [after last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf], just for minor stuff, and we gave him extra time because we really liked this horse," said Brown. "He came back at Saratoga and he was so impressive in his first start back against state-breds. I put him in a stakes after that, and I don't know if he reacted out of that race or what, but he was so flat that day. He didn't have horse at any point of the race. So we just drew a line through that one and freshened him up and put him in a nice series of breezes. Today, he ran like he did in that first start this year. He had a beautiful trip."

 

Sent off at 9-1, Offering Plan returned $21.20 and earned $60,000 for a partnership headed by Michael Dubb. Overall, he is 3-0-1 from six starts with earnings of $180,800.

 

Team Colors was three lengths ahead of A Lot, with post-time favorite March checking in fourth. Vision Perfect, High Noon Rider, Gallery and Nonna's Boy completed the order of finish. Weekend Express was scratched.