NEWS
Munnings makes it look easy in Tom Fool
Posted: Sunday, July 05, 2009 6:36 PM
MUNNINGS
Adam Coglianese/NYRA photo
by Patrick Reed
Heavily favored Munnings took command at the top of the stretch and rolled to an easy 2 ¼-length score over Riley Tucker in the $185,000 Tom Fool Handicap (G2) at Belmont Park on Sunday (video).
The three-year-old Speightstown colt notched his second consecutive Grade 2 win at seven furlongs at Belmont following his 5 ¼-length romp in the Woody Stephens Stakes (G2) on June 6 and took another step toward fulfilling the potential he showed when he placed in two Grade 1 races as a two-year-old.
Sent off as the 0.65-to-1 favorite after Grade 1 winner Fabulous Strike was scratched, Munnings stalked pacesetter Riley Tucker and Driven by Success through an opening half-mile in :44.47. Jockey John Velazquez angled Munnings toward the rail leaving the turn, and he swiftly seized the lead from Riley Tucker and drove clear under a hand ride. He covered seven furlongs in 1:21.08 on a track rated as fast.
Riley Tucker finished second in the four-horse field, 3 ¼ lengths ahead of Driven by Success.
Munnings began his racing career for owners Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith with an eye-catching 4 ¼-length win in his debut at Saratoga Race Course last July. He subsequently finished third in the Three Chimneys Hopeful Stakes (G1) and second in the Champagne Stakes (G1) before fading to tenth in the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Santa Anita Park in his only career start around two turns and on a synthetic surface.
Trainer Todd Pletcher has raced Munnings exclusively at seven furlongs since the Breeders’ Cup. After a solid second-place effort in an allowance race at Churchill Downs on May 1 to start his three-year-old campaign, Munnings has rewarded his connections with back-to-back Grade 2 victories in dominant fashion. He improved his career record to three wins in seven starts and boosted his earnings to $422,240.
Bred in Kentucky by Dan Tayloe and Glencrest Farm, Munnings is out of the unraced Holy Bull mare La Comete, a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Lasting Approval and Grade 3 winner Icon Project. Munnings’s second dam is Grade 1 winner La Gueriere, by Lord At War (Arg).
For an Equibase chart, click here.
Patrick Reed is a Thoroughbred Times contributing writer
