NEWS
Lookin At Lucky, Vale of York top Experimental Free Handicap
Posted: Thursday, January 28, 2010 9:46 AM
LOOKIN AT LUCKY
Benoit & Associates photo
by Jeff Lowe
Champion Lookin At Lucky and the only horse to beat him, Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Vale of York (Ire), shared the highweight assignment of 126 pounds on the 2009 Experimental Free Handicap, a hypothetical ranking of last year’s two-year-olds as if being handicapped for a 1 1/16-mile race on dirt.
Lookin At Lucky and Vale of York share common ties besides their tight finish in the Juvenile, where Vale of York sprung a 30.60-to-1 upset, with Lookin At Lucky finishing second by a head after breaking from the outside post in a field of 13.
Vale of York races in the colors of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum’s Godolphin Racing. The 2008 Experimental Free Handicap highweight was Midshipman, who ran for Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley Stable when he won the ’08 Juvenile at Santa Anita Park. Midshipman also was pegged at 126 pounds, which is the standard high impost.
Bob Baffert trains Lookin At Lucky, and he also was the conditioner of Midshipman until Sheikh Mohammed moved the colt to the Godolphin roster last winter. Midshipman makes his four-year-old debut today in the $200,000 Al Maktoum Challenge-Round 1 (UAE-G3).
Racing secretaries Ben Huffman of Churchill Downs, P.J. Campo of the New York Racing Association and Tom Robbins of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club assigned weights to 93 males and 82 fillies who finished in the top four in graded or other unrestricted races with an added value of at least $75,000 in the United States.
Lookin At Lucky, by Smart Strike, scored in the Best Pal Stakes (G2), Del Mar Futurity (G1), and Norfolk Stakes (G1) leading up to the Breeders’ Cup, and he clinched the Eclipse Award as champion two-year-old male with a victory in the CashCall Futurity (G1) on December 19 at Hollywood Park.
Baffert is considering the San Felipe Stakes (G2) on March 13 at Santa Anita for Lookin At Lucky’s three-year-old debut for owners Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman.
Vale of York switched to Santa Anita’s Pro-Ride surface in the Breeders’ Cup after four stakes appearances on the turf in Europe. He won the Peter Willett Stardom Stakes at Goodwood and finished third to Joshua Tree in the Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes (Eng-G2) at Ascot, before earning his Breeders’ Cup berth with a second-place finish to Hearts of Fire in the Gran Criterium (Ity-G1) at Milan.
The third-place finisher in the Juvenile, Chasing Dreams Racing’s Noble’s Promise, also checks in third on the Experimental Free Handicap at 124 pounds. The Cuvee colt notched wins in the Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial Juvenile Stakes at Presque Isle Downs and Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at Keeneland Race Course before finishing a half-length behind Vale of York and Lookin At Lucky in the Juvenile and three-quarters of a length behind Lookin At Lucky in the CashCall Futurity.
Remsen (G2) and Nashua (G2) Stakes winner Buddy’s Saint is next at 123 pounds. Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Pounced and Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) winner Super Saver follow at 122 pounds.
In the filly division, champion two-year-old filly She Be Wild and multiple Grade 1 winner Blind Luck lead the way collectively at 123 pounds, one pound lighter than 2008 champion Stardom Bound.
She Be Wild won the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes (G3) and finished second to Negligee in the Darley Alcibiades Stakes (G1).
Blind Luck rebounded for a seven-length win in the Hollywood Starlet Stakes (G1) after finishing third in the Juvenile Fillies. She also won the Oak Leaf Stakes (G1).
Hot Dixie Chick was rated at 121 pounds in recognition of her wins in the Spinaway Stakes (G1) and Schuylerville Stakes (G3) at Saratoga Race Course.
Among sires with offspring on the Experimental Free Handicap, Bernstein tops the list with five male representatives, and Tiznow is the leading sire of fillies with four representatives. Combining the two lists, Roman Ruler is the leading sire with six representatives. Of the 175 horses who received weights, 108 were bred in Kentucky, 34 in Florida and five each in California and Pennsylvania.
To view the 2009 Experimental Free Handicap, click here.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
