NEWS
‘Awesome’ plan comes together in Gotham
Posted: Monday, March 08, 2010 6:17 PM
AWESOME ACT
Adam Coglianese/NYRA photo
by Jeff Lowe
The connections of Awesome Act, sensing a familiar and successful formula, mapped out a plan after the Breeders’ Cup World Championships to give him a chance to reach the U.S. Triple Crown races.
The course changed throughout the winter, but trainer Jeremy Noseda and owners Susan Roy and Vinery Stables find themselves in the position they had hoped to be after the Awesome Again colt delivered a 1 ¼-length victory in the Gotham Stakes (G3) on March 6 at Aqueduct in his first start on dirt (video).
Noseda orchestrated a similar triumph in 2004 with Wilko, another Awesome Again colt, who shipped in from England to post a 28.30-to-1 upset win the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Lone Star Park in his dirt debut.
Awesome Act’s only previous victory came on the turf at Goodwood in a maiden race on October 1. He finished fourth at 31.90-to-1 odds in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G2) at Santa Anita Park.
A day later, Noseda asked for and was granted the opportunity to prepare Awesome Act in England this winter.
“We sat down the day after the Breeders’ Cup and he said this horse probably needs to come back to America,” Vinery President Tom Ludt said. “He said, ‘I had Wilko. This horse is going to love the dirt, and I think he can handle the distance. If he’s good enough, we could put him on the Kentucky Derby (G1) trail.’
“We think he’s a great trainer, he’s always been forward with us and has done well, so that’s what we did.”
Noseda’s schedule for getting Awesome Act to the dirt went through a series of revisions. A planned start in December was called off because Noseda did not have the colt as fit as he desired.
“We were going to delay it and then the weather got bad on us, so we missed an opportunity to run because of weather and then the next race didn’t have enough horses in it, so we were really scrambling,” Ludt said. “[Noseda] did as good [a job] of training as he could without putting him in an actual race. Then the flight [to New York] got canceled. So this horse—it was never [because of] him—but he battled every obstacle in the world and proved Jeremy’s insight correct. He ran a huge race considering he had never even been on a dirt track.”
Noseda picked out Awesome Act at the 2008 Keeneland September yearling sale and asked Vinery and Roy, two of his existing clients, to join in a partnership. They snagged the colt on a final bid of $240,000.
Roy also partnered with J. Paul Reddam in Wilko, who stayed in training in America after the Juvenile but never won another race.
Awesome Act’s next step is the Wood Memorial Stakes (G1) on April 3 at Aqueduct.
The three-year-old spotlight also fell on trainer Alexis Barba on Saturday at Santa Anita Park when she swept the Pasadena Stakes with Make Music for Me (video) and Sham Stakes (G3) with Alphie’s Bet (video).
Barba, in her tenth year as a trainer, had never won a stakes race before. A longtime assistant to trainer Eddie Gregson, she took over his stable after his death in 2000.
In 2009, Barba’s runners won four of 47 starts. Peter and Ellen Johnson own Make Music for Me, and Peter Johnson also is the co-owner of Alphie’s Bet with the colt’s breeder, Teresa McWilliams.
Both horses performed well as maidens in stiff competition in 2009.
Make Music for Me registered his first win in the Pasadena, a one-mile turf race, after spending much of his two-year-old season chasing Lookin At Lucky, the eventual champion two-year-old male
Make Music for Me finished second to Lookin At Lucky in the Best Pal Stakes (G2) and Del Mar Futurity (G1) and finished third behind Lookin At Lucky and Grade 1 winner Noble’s Promise in the CashCall Futurity (G1).
The Bernstein colt might get another crack at the champ in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) on April 3. Lookin At Lucky is scheduled to begin his season on Saturday in the Rebel Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park.
Alphie’s Bet finished second to Caracortado as a maiden in the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes on December 26 at Santa Anita in his third career start. The Tribal Rule colt stepped back and won a maiden race for California-breds on the turf at Santa Anita on January 15.
As of Sunday, no plans had been made for Alphie’s Bet’s next start.
Sham runner-up Setsuko will move on to the Santa Anita Derby.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
