Recepta Could Be Headed Back to Graded Ranks
{{monthName}} {{day}}, {{year}} {{hour12}}:{{minuteTwoDigit}}{{dayPeriod}}
Photo:
Chelsea Durand/NYRA
Though he had started just five horses through the meet's first 14 days, trainer Jimmy Toner is batting 1.000 when it comes to stakes races. Six days after Thieves Guild's victory in the Caress, Recepta followed with a 2 ¼-length score inSaturday's $100,000 Fasig-Tipton De La Rose.
"She came back good," Toner said Sunday morning. "I think she's just now getting into her rhythm. That was her fourth start [this year]. She's getting more mature and she handled everything beautifully yesterday. She can be a little on the nervous side, but she just handled everything perfect."
In the one-mile De La Rose, Recepta settled in mid-pack under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez before taking over at the top of the stretch and turning away a belated bid from Tuttipaesi for her second career stakes win and first since the 2013 Chelsea Flower. Junior Alvarado, aboard Tuttipaesi, lodged an objection for interference in the stretch, but the outcome stood.
"She ran super," Toner said. "Johnny rode a great race. We couldn't be happier. It was a little nerve-wracking. Anytime you've got an inquiry and objection, you've always got to worry about that. Johnny said he never bothered her. He kept a straight path and I think if you look at the head-on, the other horse came into her. She's actually lucky she didn't clip heels."
Toner said he would take a look at the Grade 2, $400,000 Ballston Spa on August 29 for Recepta, who was third in the Grade 3 Beaugay in May and Grade 3 Appalachian last April.
"I think the Ballston Spa might be back a little quick," he said. "We'll take a look at it and, if not there, we'll just wait until we get back to Belmont."
* * *
Third in a pair of Grade 3 stakes last year, Under Control was in good order on Sunday following his breakthrough stakes victory in Saturday's $100,000 Lure.
The 1 1/16-mile Lure was just the second start this year and 18th overall for Under Control, a 7-year-old gelding owned by Charlotte Weber's Live Oak Plantation.
"He's super, very good," trainer Graham Motion said. "He was a little unlucky in his first race, I thought. He didn't have a perfect trip. He's a lovely horse, and he's a horse that's actually gotten better as he's gotten older. Mrs. Weber has always been really good about giving him a break whenever he needs one. I think it's paid off. It paid off yesterday."
Motion hasn't decided where to run back with Under Control, who was third by seven lengths at the top of the stretch before taking over the lead and drawing off to win by 1 ¼ lengths in 1:39.50.
"I really hadn't thought beyond that race, so I have to see where we fit," he said. "I think he's improved, that horse. He kind of won for fun yesterday. Irad [Ortiz Jr.] said he got to looking around a bit late in the race."
Motion has three wins from 24 starts at the meet, and was second with Eastern Belle in the Grade 3 Waya and Miss Ella in the August 3 Coronation Cup. He will be represented in three graded stakes over the weekend with Miss Temple City in Friday's Grade 2, $300,000 Maker's Mark Lake Placid; Lookout Sister in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Adirondack; and Mid Life Crisis in Sunday's Grade 2, $200,000 Toyota Saratoga Special.
Source: NYRA Communications
Source: NYRA Communications
Read More
This is the 17th and final installment of a weekly feature exclusive to Horse Racing Nation tracking the...
Forever Young earned a sparkling 140 Horse Racing Nation speed figure for his victory in Saturday's Breeders' Cup...
The Fasig-Tipton November Sale, held Monday at the Newtown Paddocks in Lexington, Ky., posted sales of more than...
Owen Almighty , the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby winner who most recently placed third in the Perryville...
A decade after Michelle Payne became the first woman win Australia's most famous race, Jamie Melham has etched herself...