A Private Purchase ‘Spot’ On
A ‘SWALE’ OF AN UPSET
All of the hype ahead of Saturday’s GII Swale S. at Gulfstream Park surrounded the return of GI Champagne S. hero and “TDN Rising Star” Havana (Dunkirk) and G1 Prix Morny hero No Nay Never (Scat Daddy). The seven-furlong event lost some of its intrigue when Havana came out early in the day with a quarter crack, leaving No Nay Never as the prohibitive chalk, but Spot (Pulpit) had other ideas, as he rallied from far back off a swift early pace to upset the apple cart at odds of 9-1. The gray gelding was recently acquired by owner Joe Moss from his breeder Curtis Green in a private transaction. “First, I’ve got to thank the Lord,” an appreciative Nick Zito said. “Second, I have to thank Mr. [Joseph] Moss. He’s an elderly gentleman who loves this sport. He’s just looking for horses like this. He’s been trying for a two years now. We’ve got to a couple sales and things haven’t worked out. I watched this horse run a month ago, and I know Mr. Green very well. I approached him, and he said, ‘Why not?’ Mr. Moss is getting up there in age and has so much guts, it’s amazing.” Trained for Green by Jimmy DiVito on the Chicago circuit at two, Spot was runner-up on his June 2 debut over the Arlington Poly, but trailed in a one-mile turf maiden Aug. 22. Fifth to subsequent SW Coastline (Speightstown) in a seven-furlong test over the Keeneland synthetic Oct. 5, he finally got the job done with a switch to conventional dirt, romping home by 8 1/2 lengths at Hawthorne Oct. 24. Though there are plenty of first-level allowance races and despite the fact that DiVito calls Tampa Bay Downs his winter home, Spot trekked down to South Florida for the GIII Hutcheson S. Feb. 1, but he was never a factor when fifth to subsequent GII Fountain of Youth S. winner Wildcat Red (D’wildcat). No Nay Never jumped well and led them out of the chute, but was displaced on the front end by the rail-skimming Can’t Stop the Kid (Montbrook) and the two locked horns through an opening couple of furlongs in :22.24. Spot was a distant fifth and double digits behind for the opening four furlongs. No Nay Never loomed upsides Can’t Stop the Kid with ears pricked leaving the three-eighths marker and appeared to have the race at his mercy, but Spot, inside on the turn, appeared on the scene and was switched out under a full head of steam entering the stretch. Racing on his incorrect lead, he struck to the lead at the eighth pole and edged clear.
Click here for a profile of winning owner Joe Moss written by TDN Editor-In-Chief Jessica Martini.
Saturday, Gulfstream
SWALE S.-GII, $200,000, GPX, 3-1, 3yo, 7f, 1:22 2/5, ft.
1–#@SPOT, 117, g, 3, by Pulpit
1st Dam: Quiet Summernight, by Quiet American
2nd Dam: Summernights Dream, by General Assembly
3rd Dam: Nymphe Des Bois, by Caro (Ire)
($150,000 RNA yrl ’12 KEESEP). O-Joseph H Moss;
B-Curtis C Green (KY); T-Nicholas P Zito; J-Jose
Lezcano. $120,000. Lifetime Record: 6-2-1-0,
$151,632. *1/2 to Quiet All American (Forest Camp),
SW, $233,829. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple
Plus* Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–No Nay Never, 123, c, 3, Scat Daddy–Cat’s Eye
Witness, by Elusive Quality. ($170,000 wlng ’11
KEENOV; $95,000 yrl ’12 KEESEP). O-Ice Wine
Stable, Susan Magnier, Michael B Tabor & Derrick
Smith; B-Jayne Doi Johnson & David Sparrow (KY);
T-Wesley A Ward. $40,000.
3–Brothersofthetime, 121, c, 3, Bob and John–
Hostility, by Devil His Due. ($32,000 yrl ’12
OBSAUG). O-Gelfenstein Farm; B-Marion G Montanari
(FL); T-Antonio Sano. $20,000.
Margins: 2HF, 1 1/4, 5. Odds: 9.50, 0.40, 28.90.
Also Ran: Prudhoe Bay, Can’t Stop the Kid, Breitling Flyer. Scratched: Havana.
Click for the brisnet.com chart, the brisnet.com PPs or the free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO.
“He broke good and the speed went very good in front of him,” said winning jockey Jose Lezcano. “When I asked him, he came running and he gave me the kick that I needed to win the race. The horse that finished second had to go on the pace the whole way and gave me the opportunity to win the race. When I really asked him, he took off very good.”
Havana was withdrawn from the Swale earlier in the morning by trainer Todd Pletcher.
“When he came out this morning, he was a little tender in his right front foot,” Pletcher said. “I went ahead and took him to the racetrack to see how he was, and he actually trained fine. When he came back, he had a little bit of blood on the inside quarter of his front foot and we saw a little quarter crack there. I don’t anticipate it’s going to be a big deal but the timing couldn’t have been much worse, especially for today’s race.”