It is simple to look again and surprise about “what if?”
But there are occasions when a vivid future can outweigh all of that.
The three-year-old colt Locked certainly suits properly into that mould.
After he received the $500,000 Cigar Mile Handicap (G2) Dec. 7 at Aqueduct Racetrack, it was inevitable that ideas would flip to what may have been.
If not for an uncommon knee ligament difficulty that stored him away from the races for practically a 12 months, the grade 1 winner at 2 may need been a serious participant on this 12 months’s 3-year-old classics.
“It was unlucky timing as a result of the way in which a number of the Triple Crown races arrange this 12 months, it might have suited him very properly,” coach Todd Pletcher stated concerning the colt owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Companions and Walmac Farm.
But as a lot as there is likely to be disappointment hooked up to the previous, after beating older rivals and drawing off within the stretch to a 1 1/2-length win in a race as prestigious because the Cigar Mile, there’s the very satisfying comfort current of getting a high menace within the Jan. 25 $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park or the Feb. 22 $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) in Saudi Arabia.
“Proper now, we’re interested by the Pegasus however the $20 million is hanging on the market,” stated Aron Wellman, president and founding father of Eclipse. “It is one thing we’ve to maintain on our radar.”
Contemplating what occurred to Locked, simply getting him again to the races concerned tons of fine fortune.
“I would be mendacity if I stated we weren’t devastated that we needed to take him off the Kentucky Derby path,” Wellman stated. “However wanting again on the damage and the individuality of it, we really feel very lucky to be on this place to showcase him once more.
“We had quite a few vets from everywhere in the world have a look at it, and due to trendy expertise, we had been capable of diagnose it. He had a uncommon pressure of a ligament behind his knee that was actually troublesome to detect, and it wasn’t that apparent. So, credit score to Todd and his workforce for catching it at some extent that was early sufficient. It was the morning of the Fountain of Youth that Todd wasn’t 100% pleased with him. If not for Todd’s meticulous nature and his workforce, I do not know if Locked would be capable to showcase himself the way in which he’s.”
Locked (far left) turns for residence widest of all within the Cigar Mile Handicap
A winner of the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at 2, the son of Gun Runner was third within the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) after which as a result of knee damage didn’t race once more till he captured an Oct. 19 allowance non-obligatory claimer at Aqueduct that satisfied his connections to level for the Cigar.
Siena Farm and WinStar Farm’s Mullikin , who was third as the favourite within the Breeders’ Cup Dash (G1), was third early on via a :45.30 half-mile after which surged to the lead in midstretch, bidding for jockey Flavien Prat’s record-breaking 56th graded stakes win of the 12 months.
But it surely was to not be as John Velazquez and Locked rallied from sixth and powered by him nearing the sixteenth pole to cowl the mile in 1:34.52 and lengthen Pletcher’s file variety of Cigar wins to seven.
“I believe we have been lucky sufficient to have some wholesome horses right now of the 12 months and a few good milers to have the ability to run,” Pletcher stated.
For Velazquez, the 2-1 favourite ($6.30) accounted for a record-matching fifth Cigar win and three victories in a row in what had been a grade 1 stakes till final 12 months.
The connections of Locked within the winner’s circle for the Cigar Mile Handicap
“To win a race just like the Cigar places an exclamation level on what’s been, sadly, a quick however good profession,” Wellman stated. “It is also unlucky that the Cigar just isn’t a grade 1 and I believe we would all agree in status it is a grade 1 race and it was a grade 1 discipline at present with out query. Hopefully, the powers that be will rethink and reinstate its grade 1 standing.”
Mullikin, a son of Violence educated by Rodolphe Brisset, was second by a size over the rallying Put up Time , a son of Frosted owned by Hillwood Steady and educated by Brittany Russell.
Locked, bred by Rosa Colasanti out of the Malibu Moon mare Luna Rosa, was purchased for $425,000 on the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from the Eaton Gross sales consignment and has earned $935,650. He’s her second offspring to race and the lone stakes winner. Luna Rosa additionally has a yearling Tiz the Legislation filly and a 2024 Early Voting colt.
