Stewart Has High Hopes for Lemon Drop Title
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There are many promising maidens stabled at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, but few raced as quickly as Charles Fipke’s homebred Lemon Drop Title did upon debut on Feb. 21 and even fewer have the looks and depth of pedigree that have his trainer Dallas Stewart hopeful that the son of Lemon Drop Kid could be something special.
“He’s definitely a very nice horse and one of the best-bred horses on the track,” Stewart said. “He’s an unbelievable specimen and has some talent. Just looking at him, you can see it. He has the pedigree and looks like he’ll stretch out.”
By the aforementioned five-time Grade I-winning champion older male of 2000 and subsequently stellar sire, Lemon Drop Title is out of Title Seeker – an unraced Phipps Stable homebred daughter of 2001 Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos and the undefeated Hall of Fame champion and legendary racemare/broodmare Personal Ensign. He is a half-brother to Seeking the Title, whose impressive record under Stewart’s tutelage included winning the Grade III Iowa Oaks, placing in the Grade I Gazelle Stakes, Grade II Fair Grounds Oaks and Grade III Monmouth Oaks and competing in the 2010 Grade I Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic. Forward enough as a 2-year-old to be placed in the Ocala’s 2014 June Two-Year-Olds & Horses of Racing Age Sale, the bay colt failed to reach his reserve when the bidding ceased at $100,000.
“He came in a little late after the 2-year-old sale,” Stewart said. “He had a chip taken out that was minor and came in a little behind. He has been working brilliantly and is a beautiful mover. We’ll take it a little slower with him and hope to get his maiden broken before we leave (Fair Grounds). He was feeling so good after his first race that we took him to the track the second day and galloped him. We usually walk them three days after a race. I’ll do what’s best for him in the long run and develop him.”
In his aforestated first outing, the Kentucky-bred made an excellent appearance in the paddock alongside two ‘buzz’ horses, Stonestreet Farm’s Bret Calhoun-trained 8-5 race time favorite Harvey and Stewart Madison and Steve Landry’s Al Stall, Jr.-trained eventual winner and 3-1 second choice Yockey’s Warrior. Drawing the rail, he broke alertly under Brian Hernandez, Jr., raced gamely throughout and then ranged up well to challenge in upper stretch before being outdistanced by the winner by 6 ¾ lengths and easily securing the place by 2 ¼ lengths. The effort earned him an 84 on both the Equibase and Beyer Speed Figure scales – an impressive feat first-time out that would have won many six-furlong maiden heats this meet.
If all goes well, two maiden special weight races in the condition book may be on Lemon Drop Title’s connections’ radar – a second attempt at the identical course and distance as his debut on Mar. 21 and one on Louisiana Derby Day (Mar. 28) around two turns going a mile and 70 yards. On Friday morning, he worked a half-mile in :48.40 – good for fifth-best of 38 moves at the distance and three-fifths quicker than Yockey’s Warrior.
A SATISFYING RETURN FOR KENDALL’S BOY
Thursday’s featured race – a six-furlong conditioned allowance that attracted the likes of stakes-quality horses Embellishing Bob, The Trunk Monkey and Night Maneuver – was keenly taken by Kendall’s Boy. Having to fight for the win the entirety of the race under jockey James Graham for trainer Tom Amoss, the son of Sky Mesa fended off four others in a five-horse blanket finish to win by a head in a swift 1:10.82 on a cold and blustery afternoon.
“It was a close finish between a field of very good horses. He came out of it fine,” Amoss said of the Jerry Namy-owned 4-year-old bay colt. “To win a race like that off the bench speaks for his future.”
Out of the stakes-winning Gold Token mare Golden Damsel and a half-brother to multiple stakes-placed mare Instant Style, Kendall’s Boy was purchased out of Keeneland’s September yearling sale in 2012 for $100,000 in the name of his owner. Thought of highly enough to make his debut at Saratoga, he finished second to eventual Grade I winner and Eclipse Award finalist Havana in that event before graduating one race later in a Churchill Downs sprint.
After a failed attempt at two turns and a synthetic surface in the Grade I $400,000 Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, Kendall’s Boy returned three months later on January 2014, to kick off his sophomore year in style in a six-furlong allowance at Fair Grounds. An 11th-place finish in the Grade III $300,000 Southwest Stakes in February behind Tapiture and two more uninspiring efforts in March and June preceded an 8 ½-month layoff going into Thursday’s race.
“I bought him as a yearling and it’s always nice to see a horse you picked out as a young horse and recommended to a client run a good race,” Amoss continued. “I am hoping he moves forward from this. We’ll see how things will open up in the spring, as far as his next race. Sometimes those allowance races in Kentucky read like stakes races - so we’ll see how things go.”
Source: Fair Grounds Barn Notes
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