Accelerating speeds to victory in the Seeking The Ante Sunday. NYRA Photo/Susie Raisher
A $25,000 New York-bred Saratoga yearling turned into a $325,000 Fasig-Tipton Timonium 2-year-old. Sunday, she morphed into a stakes winner.
Accelerating, bred by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds and Jeff Gard, romped in the Seeking The Ante Stakes to kick off New York Showcase Day at Saratoga Race Course.
“She’s obviously a very nice filly that just happens to be a New York-bred,” said trainer Steve Asmussen. “She’s trained really well against everybody in the morning. I think we obviously have enough tools in other horses to know that she’s got good ability for open company as well.”
Accelerating is the fourth foal and first winner out of Tizjet, a Tiznow mare the McMahons bought in foal to 2019 champion male sprinter Mitole for $30,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Her three previous foals have a combined 0-for-15 record. Accelerating is now 2-for-2, having broken her maiden at Saratoga July 26.
“Many thanks to Steve Asmussen and Ben McElroy for selecting this filly. This is where Steve decided to run her, and here we are celebrating a win,” said owner Kaleem Shah, who had some fun with his trainer when naming the horse. “I’ve bought a few other New York-breds, but this is my first New York-bred stakes winner. She was named a little bit after Steve’s speeding habits. He travels a lot. He’s got a few speeding tickets. Just to have a little fun with him, I decided to name her Accelerating. Hopefully, he’ll slow down, but the filly won’t slow down.”
Sunday, she bobbled at the break, but Jose Ortiz had her straightened within a few strides and she went to the lead, chased by Central to Success, Trail of Gold and Carmen’s Candy Jar through a quarter-mile in :22.69 and a half in :46.07. By the time they reached the stretch call, Accelerating had extended the lead to 3 1/2 lengths on the way to a 4-length win. The final time was 1:11.31.
“We bobbled a little bit out of the gate. That was pretty much the only thing that went wrong,” Ortiz said. “Other than that, she recovered well, put us on the lead, and I was able to nurse her along the turn and when I asked her to go, she was much the best today. In her first race, she felt nice. Today, she put an exclamation point that she is definitely a stakes horse.”
Asmussen was concerned when the filly wasn’t on her best behavior before the race.
“I thought she was a lot more anxious pre-race today in the paddock and in the post parade than she was first time,” he said. “So we’ll try to give her a little more time and settle down. I think that she will benefit from having the two races in her. If anything, with her being a little more anxious today, she needed it.” – Paul Halloran
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Mo Plex (left) gets up in the final strides to edge Soontobeking in the Funny Cide. NYRA Photo/Chelsea Durand
After the trophy presentation for Mo Plex’s win in Sunday’s Funny Cide Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, trainer Jeremiah Englehart shook hands with Jack Knowlton and said, “It’s an honor” to win the race named for the 2003 Kentucky Derby winner campaigned by Knowlton’s Sackatoga Stable.
“Funny Cide was one of my favorite horses,” Englehart said of the $3.5 million earner. “His Triple Crown year, I had a lot of fun. I loved it when they brought him up to the Finger Lakes. I was there and it was packed. It’s cool to see some of these horses have the stakes named after them. I won it a few years ago with Aveenu Malcainu (2017) and it’s nice to come back and win it today.”
Mo Plex made Englehart and R and H Stable sweat. The even-money favorite in a field of seven 2-year-olds stumbled leaving the gate from the outside post, then veered toward the outside rail and galloped alone six paths wider than his nearest rival. Irad Ortiz Jr. angled in gradually and Mo Plex found a spot stalking In The Chase through a quarter-mile in :22.43. Mi Bago sat third along the inside, followed by Soontobeking and McDiesel. In The Chase still led through a half in :45.89, towing Mo Plex and Soontobeking into the stretch. Fifth behind Mo Plex in the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes July 13, Soontobeking attacked first and took over at the eight pole as Ortiz implored Mo Plex for more. Finally, inside the final sixteenth the son of Complexity leveled off and hacked into the margin, getting up in the final steps to win by a nose in 1:11.72 for 6 furlongs. The Toner was 2 1/2 lengths back in third.
Englehart watched from a clubhouse box about up the stretch and winced.
“It worked out a lot better at the wire than it did at the eighth pole,” he said. Then he played comedian. “I told Irad, ‘Let’s really challenge him today. Let all the other horses comes to him at the top of the stretch and pass him and then see if he can come on . . .’ ”
Englehart let it hang there while standing at the top of the steps to the track, and laughed.
“He’s just a cool horse,” Englehart said. “He fought. I’m like, ‘He’s going to run third, second maybe, at the top of the stretch, eighth pole and he just dug in. He just wanted to win.”
Mo Plex is learning to do that. Purchased by Englehart and Legion Bloodstock for $45,000 at the OBS April sale, the bay colt won his debut against New York-breds by 10 lengths at Aqueduct June 20. Stepped up to open company in Saratoga’s Sanford on the first Saturday of the meet, he won by a length. Englehart opted for a return to the New York-bred ranks for the $200,000 Funny Cide presented by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, and his horse collected $110,000 to raise his earnings tab to $247,500 in three starts.
Consigned by Jesse Hoppel at the sale, Mo Plex caught Durr’s attention as a potential prospect for R and H.
“I do a lot of business with Jesse, he was high on him, and we liked the shape,” Durr said. “We had a budget for those guys of like 75-grand and we thought we were going to have to pay at least that for him. We got him for 45. I don’t know how we bought him for that, but we’ll take it.”
Bred by Avi and Rhoda Freedberg’s Everything’s Cricket Racing, the winner is the first foal for the Uncle Mo mare Mo Joy and was a $27,000 RNA at Fasig-Tipton’s New York-bred yearling sale last summer. – Joe Clancy
