Horse Racing Nation
Louisville,
Ky.
The
shiny object for bettors this time of year is an undefeated record for
2-year-olds whose connections carry Kentucky Derby dreams. Less clear are the
lessons discovered by growing colts, particularly if they are refined. And in races
they eliminate.
Case
in point: Classic Causeway, a 7-2 next preference on the morning line for
Saturday’s Quality 2, $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs, a
10-4-2-1 points prep for the 2022 Kentucky Derby.
Owned
by Patrick O’Keefe’s Kentucky West Racing and the Clarke Cooper relatives believe in, the
homebred colt by Giant’s Causeway adopted his 6 1/2-length debut earn Sept. 4
at Saratoga with a third-area disappointment as the 9-5 preferred in the
Breeders’ Futurity (G1) on Oct. 9 at Keeneland.
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“He
was up towards it from the get-go, drawn out as extensive as he was,” Classic Causeway’s
coach Brian Lynch said on the Vegas Stats & Details Network’s racing podcast. “We form of fully commited to get ourselves a good situation likely into the
1st transform and finished up on the lead and ended up heading rather speedy.”
The
similar issue could come about all over again Saturday, whilst Vintage Causeway is not caught
in put up 13 as he was previous month. This time he is on the rail, in which his early
velocity could place him on your own on the direct as rapidly as the very first transform will arrive in
the 1 1/16-mile race.
“As
far as speed, appear, he’ll be surely laying shut,” Lynch reported. “Does he
have to be ideal ‘on the Invoice Daily’ (the lead)? I never know. His very last pair
of works we have permit him set off some horses, and he’s rated attractive. So I’m not
certain that he does need to have the guide soon after looking at him rest in guiding horses.”
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Reminiscences
of Keeneland have affected Lynch’s attitude about the Kentucky Jockey Club. In
the Breeders’ Futurity, jockey José Ortiz pushed Basic Causeway out to swift,
rate-location fractions of 22.81 and 46.74 seconds. By the time they turned into
the stretch, Rattle N Roll was major the demand to the entrance.
“I
thought by the quarter pole, when they started out to swamp him, that he experienced every single
conceivable probability to pack it in and call it a day,” Lynch reported.
That
was when he said the light bulb went on for his chestnut colt.
“The
horses that laid up with him and tried to chase him, they all backed out of it,”
Lynch claimed. “The two that sat off him and shut (Rattle N Roll and Double
Thunder) were ready to get there, and he wasn’t that far powering them. I considered
he boxed on challenging down the lane for a horse that had to do all the grunt function
early.”
As
effortless as it may be to say Classic Causeway concluded third for the reason that he could not
get two turns, Lynch explained the Breeders’ Futurity performance was additional nuanced. It
also was a educating second for Lynch himself.
“You
perform backward from your major races, so to have him cranked as tight as you could
have a horse in his 2nd start, no, he genuinely was not there,” the Australia
indigenous explained. “Did he appear on for the race? I believe that he did, and I believe he’s
really completely ready to get two turns this time wherever he may have been a minor susceptible
if he had to go a lot quicker early in his 2nd commence.”
With
Ortiz in New York on his way to a Florida wintertime, Lynch turned to the year’s leading-earning
jockey Joel Rosario to choose more than on Traditional Causeway.
“Joel
was correct listed here,” Lynch explained from his Churchill Downs barn. “We experienced the
option to let him work the horse a pair of occasions. Obtaining the prospect
to have him get the job done him and get to know him, we determined to go with him.”
“He’s
qualified really perfectly,” Rosario explained to Horse Racing Country on Friday night. “It
seems like he has some talent.”
Lynch
also made the decision now was not the time to shy absent from tightening Classic Causeway’s
workout routines. With Rosario up, 5-furlong is effective this thirty day period had been clocked at 59.60
seconds and 1:00.4, each bullets, right before a 59.40 breeze last Saturday that was second-swiftest
of the 59 timed is effective at that length.
“Obviously
this will be his final begin as a 2-year-outdated, and it is for $400,000, so you damn
certain want to make absolutely sure he’s great and restricted, and you’re not kidding you
likely into the race that you have acquired the horse that you hope you have,” Lynch
reported. “We’ve been seeing that in his functions, and I’m usually a organization believer when
superior horses are executing excellent, they get the job done superior. He’s definitely been doing work good.”
Now
it is just a matter of translating those mornings with Rosario into a effective
Saturday in opposition to the likes of Tiz the Bomb (3-1), a 3-time winner on the
grass who was 2nd in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, and Howling Time (7-2),
just one of these shiny 2-for-2 juveniles who received the Road Perception past month about
the same system and length as the Kentucky Jockey Club.
Lynch
is not bought that Traditional Causeway has to be on the early lead once more.
“If
there’s no speed in the race, I’m always a major believer that tempo tends to make the race,”
Lynch stated. “He’s functional to go both way. If they want to go tricky early, I
think we’ll just tuck in there. If there’s no pace, we’ll guide the way.”
“I’m
certain he can do no matter what,” Rosario said. “There’s other speed in the race, but he
can do nearly anything.”
After
the Kentucky Jockey Club, Lynch ideas to deliver Common Causeway with the rest of
his string of horses to Florida following 7 days for races at Gulfstream Park and
instruction at Palm Meadows.
“He’ll
be offered every single opportunity to dance in the dances to get to the Kentucky Derby
after we get down there,” Lynch explained. “If he’s very good more than enough, he’s going to choose
us there. We just hope we do not screw him up and get in his way.”
Post time for the Kentucky Jockey Club is Saturday at 5:56 p.m. EST. The race will be televised by TVG.
