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Verrazano A Pride Prize Possession by Laura Martin
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Verrazano A Pride Prize Possession |
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Sports
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Verrazano debuted on Jan. 1 at Gulfstream Park against Maiden Special Weight company, won his maiden race (which was 6 ½ furlongs) and the competition was no match. He soon dominated a field of allowance runners, which propelled him to great performances at Tampa Bay Derby (gr. II) and Wood Memorial (gr. I).
Oldest Curse in Sporting: Verrazano entered the Derby to break the 131 year old Curse of Apollo. The recount is from the year 1882 when the Kentucky Derby was only in its eighth year and was not an important event in the American horse racing calendar.
That time Runnymede was the fastest 3 year old colt in America, whose owners Dwyer brothers agreed to ship the colt to the west on the condition that they would also bring their own Manhattan bookmakers. Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr, who had conceived the race as an equine Mardi gras that would make Louisville, Ky., the equal of any river city, agreed to have the bookies.
On a rainy Derby day, the bookmakers made Runnymede the 4-5 favorite. He ran like a favorite for most twice escaping from behind running roadblocks of horses, and making up six lengths in the stretch of the race. With 400 yards to go in the mile-and-a-half race Runnymede took the lead but behind him, daredevil African-American jockey Babe Hurd was weaving his mount, Apollo, between tiring horses. Two hundred yards from the wire, Apollo drew nose-to-nose with Runnymede, then dug through the mud to win by half a body length. It was such an unexpected victory from a rookie horse he was quoted as not thought of before the race and having very scanty attention from the betting ring.
Since 1882, every horse that has won the Kentucky Derby started its racing career as a 2-year-old. In the past 57 years, 49 horses that debuted as 3-year-olds have tried and failed to win at Churchill Downs. It’s known as the Curse of Apollo, and it’s the oldest curse in American sports. There have been several horses that went to Louisville with a chance to break this streak, but none of them could get it done. Verrazano had some positive from his distant pedigree and the advantage of having connections with trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey Johnny Velazquez. This famous horse race had high quality runners; Verrazano needed peak effort and lots luck to break the “Curse of Apollo”. 131 years of history didn’t lie.
Winning Spree: In the first major stakes after the Triple Crown, Verrazano loped the $148,500 Pegasus Stakes easily after his main challenger, Itsmyluckyday, was pulled up on the Monmouth Park backstretch. Verrazano was making his first start since struggling over a sloppy track at Churchill Downs and finishing a disappointing 14th in the Kentucky Derby. This win called plans for Verrazano to return to Monmouth for the $1 million William Hill Haskell Invitational at 1 1/8 miles.
Haskell Win: The highly graded Verrazano proved there was enormous substance behind the hype with a superstar performance in the Haskell, where he outran his Grade 1 rivals by nearly ten lengths in a commanding display.
A major race for three year olds in between the U.S. Triple Crown series and the Breeders' Cup, it currently offers a purse of $1,000,000 USD and awards one of the most prestigious trophies in U.S. thoroughbred racing in the Haskell Invitational Trophy.
With John Velasquez aboard, the son of More Than Ready challenged Preakness Stakes (gr. I) winner Oxbow at the three-eighths pole and took command into the stretch, drawing off to a record-setting 9 3/4-length victory in a time of 1:50.68 for 1 1/8 miles on a fast track. Power Broker who tried in vain to stay with the winner was a distant second, with the Pletcher-trained Micromanage third. Pacesetter Oxbow settled for fourth.
Sent off at even money, Oxbow took the early lead for Stevens as Verrazano blowing slightly out of the gate from his far outside post, raced third allowing Preakness winner Oxbow to set the early fractions in a slow pace. Oxbow sent off as the second choice at 5-2, led through the half-mile mark with Verrazano a half-length back. By the time they reached the clubhouse turn, Verrazano had advanced into second while Oxbow forged a one-length advantage. Stevens got away with comfortable early fractions of :23.90 and :48.22 as Verrazano continued to stalk along with Power Broker and Vyjack. By the time they reached six furlongs in 1:12.43, Verrazano was challenging Oxbow. After giving up the lead on the turn, Oxbow had little response.
Bettors made Verrazano the heavy favorite, with Oxbow, the second pick at 3-1 odds. Grade I winner Power Broker, who attempted to give trainer Bob Baffert a fourth consecutive Haskell victory was at 5-1. It was Pletcher’s third winner at the Haskell and Velazquez’s second win at the race. Pletcher previously won Monmouth's signature race back-to-back in 2006 and 2007 with Bluegrass Cat and Any Given Saturday. Velasquez also rode Bluegrass Cat to his dominant win. The victory was the sixth in seven tries for Verrazano, who bumped his earnings to $1,551,300 with the Haskell winning share of $600,000.
Bred in Kentucky by Emory A. Hamilton, Verrazano is out of the Giant's Causeway mare Enchanted Rock. The colt is co-owned by Kevin Scatuorchio and Bryan Sullivan, brothers-in-law and managing partners of Let's Go Stable, and Coolmore partners Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier, and Derrick Smith. Pletcher said that he plans to take Verrazano back to Saratoga for the rest of the summer. The Travers Stakes will be held at Saratoga on Aug. 24, a race that could feature all three winners of the Triple Crown events — Kentucky Derby winner Orb, Preakness champion Oxbow and Belmont winner Palace Malice — and now Verrazano, which should decide the best 3-year-old thoroughbred in 2013.
I hail from a small place called Chantilly where I have grown up hearing about horse racing games. Since childhood this game has been of immense interest mainly due to the exposure through my family who also takes interest in the same. Keeping myself updated about various events and race horses around the world, I love to read and share the same.
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