Over 'immaturity,' Rowayton looks like graded stakes candidate

OXO Equine's Rowayton, a multiple Grade 1-placed son of Into Mischief trained by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, made a stylish New York debut in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance race on June 6.

With Joel Rosario up, Roywayton tracked from third as Missle Bomb burst to the lead and set a sharp half-mile in 45.70 seconds. Payne, the mutuel favorite, got the jump on the field to take command at the top of the lane, but Rowayton found a seam along the rail and kicked home a 1 1/4-length winner, stopping the clock in 1:14.94.

Rowayton finished second in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity in his second career start and followed up with a third at Santa Anita in the Grade 1 American Pharoah. 

Don Chatlos, New York-based assistant for Hollendorfer, said teaching Rowaytonto switch leads efficiently was instrumental. 

"As a 2-year-old, he was good but he showed some immaturity by not changing leads. In the Del Mar Futurity, he was second behind Game Winner and beat Roadster not changing leads," said Chatlos. "He went up to Santa Anita and did the same thing in the route race [G1 American Pharoah] that Game Winner won impressively and then went on to win the Breeders' Cup.

"The focus bringing him back is getting him to switch leads and be more focused," continued Chatlos. "You saw him switch leads the other day and what happened when he did it - you saw that acceleration and he finished huge. That was good to see from him."

"Jerry and Larry haven't mentioned any race yet, but they were very impressed he came out of the race with a 97 Beyer and the Woody Stephens was a 95. He fits with those kinds of horses," said Chatlos. "Another dimension is he'd been in front in all of his races and the older horse [Missle Bomb] beat him to the lead in there. Rosario made him settle and he did that nice. He didn't fight with him [Rosario] and then he finished up."

Chatlos said that a target has yet to be selected for Rowayton, but that the colt is in good order.

"He...is bouncing around in good shape," said Chatlos.