Unbridled’s Song Fastest at F-T

The first of two under-tack previews for next week’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale took place Wednesday in Timonium, Maryland, with a colt by Unbridled’s Song recording the fastest quarter-mile work of :21 1/5. Two juveniles shared the fastest furlong time of :10 flat. 

First to record the bullet furlong move of :10 flat was hip 131, a colt from the second crop of Grade I winner Discreetly Mine. Out of Homesteader (Pioneering), the bay is a half-brother to the ill-fated Conquest Two Step (Two Step Salsa), winner of this year’s GII Palos Verdes S. He is consigned to the Midlantic sale by David McKathan’s Grassroots Training and Sales, who purchased him for $50,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. 

“He was just a really nice horse,” McKathan said of the colt’s appeal as a yearling. “We knew he had a nice brother out there, I like the sire, plus his conformation–he’s a well-made horse.” 

Of the juvenile’s bullet work, McKathan added, “I thought he would breeze as fast as anybody today. I didn’t know what that would be. I didn’t know he’d breeze :10 flat, but I knew he’d breeze as good as any other horse here.” 

Grassroots sent out 12 juveniles to work Wednesday and McKathan said he felt the track played evenly all day. 

“They’ve done a great job with the track and I thought it was consistent all day long,” McKathan said. “Through the years I’ve found that it usually is here. Some of the other tracks, it seems they deteriorate throughout the day, but it usually doesn’t do that here. They do a pretty good job maintaining this track.” 

Hip 35, a filly by Big Brown, was the second juvenile to work in :10 flat. The chestnut is consigned by Murray Rojas’s Sweetbriar Sales LLC, agent. 

“I was expecting a good work,” Rojas admitted. “She’s a really nice filly.” 

“We bought her at Keeneland as a yearling,” Rojas said of the $15,000 yearling purchase. “She was just beautiful. For a Big Brown, I thought she was very correct. She just had a way about her.” 

The juvenile is out of Cozshesaidso (Empire Maker), a half-sister to graded stakes placed Stoic (Forestry). 

In addition to the filly’s speedy work, she could receive another boost Saturday when her sire’s Dortmund goes postward in the GI Preakness S. 

“I’ve been a Dortmund fan–I was really rooting for him to win the Derby,” Rojas laughed. 

Rojas has been consigning as Sweetbriar for three years. 

“We train racehorses at Penn National, that’s basically what we do,” she explained. “We have about 50 in training at Penn and then we have a training center right across the street.” 

Rojas and partner Ronald Greener buy about 10 to 15 yearlings to pinhook a year. “Whatever we can get bought,” Rojas explained. 

Of her participation in juvenile sales, Rojas said, “I run about 600 horses a year and [2-year-old sales] is just really fun. I love babies. You are creating something, you are creating a beautiful animal. It’s different from racing stock.” 

Greener, a lifelong racing fan, is owner of Mountain Trail Training Center near Penn National. 

“My dad took me to the races when I was a kid and I fell in love with it,” Greener said. “I actually started buying shares of racehorses as part of a syndicate, but I wasn’t happy, if I had questions about the horse or if I wanted to talk to the trainer, I wasn’t happy with the response I got. One day I told my wife, I can do this better. And we started doing it. We started with a racing stable and now we’ve graduated into doing some pinhooking.” 

Hip 40, a colt by the late Unbridled’s Song, earned the bullet quarter-mile work of :21 1/5. The youngster, who was an $8,000 Keeneland September purchase, is out of the unraced Critic’s Choice (Smart Strike), a daughter of multiple Grade I winner Starrer (Dynaformer). 

“He’s been fast all winter,” said consignor Clovis Crane. “And I knew that I had to work him a quarter because he is pretty offset in both knees, but he’s been sound as a whistle and he’s been really fast. He’s stood a lot of training and I worked him a quarter-mile so people could see and believe in him, and believe me when I say I’ve been training him.” 

Wednesday’s under-tack show was slightly delayed shortly after it started when the first horse to breeze, hip 60, bolted to the outside rail just after completing a quarter-mile work in :22 1/5. The colt darted to the gap, throwing his rider before galloping into the barn area. 

The under-tack show resumes Thursday at 8 a.m. The Midlantic sale will take place next Monday and Tuesday, with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.