NEWS
Bind to target late March or early April allowance, no Triple Crown
Posted: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 5:21 PM
BIND WINS DEBUT
Lou Hodges Jr. photo
by Ed DeRosa
The connections of Bind did not go into the colt’s career debut expecting to have a Triple Crown contender on their hands, and his 9 1/2-length romp after six furlongs in 1:08.80 on February 19 at Fair Grounds did nothing to dissuade them from targeting major races in the summer rather than the spring classics.
Trained by Al Stall Jr. for breeders Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, Bind completely dominated seven other maidens, rallying four wide under Rosie Napravnik and drawing off in the stretch as the 11-to-10 favorite. The win left observers gasping for superlatives, including track announcer John Dooley.
“Bind looms boldly. … Here comes Bind—this newcomer—and Bind is fleeing the scene, pulling away with each and every stride,” Dooley effused. “It’s Bind [for] Rosie Napravnik and Al Stall Jr. Bind a first-out winner, a first-out winner impressively.”
Bind earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 105 for his performance and a Ragozin Data performance figure of 1 1/4, which is so good it’s bad, according to Len Friedman, a partner in Len Ragozin’s The Sheets.
“The history is that it’s a negative, not a positive,” Friedman said Wednesday. “It’s more likely to affect him negatively, but who knows, maybe [Bind] is another Uncle Mo.”
Undefeated 2010 champion two-year-old male Uncle Mo received a 2 1/2 for his career debut and bested that with a 1 1/4 when winning the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1).
Stall is aware of the toll monster debuts take on most horses, and although he is breathing rarified air in training a colt who recorded one of the fastest debuts in speed-figure history, he knows enough to take his time. The next start for the Pulpit colt will not come until at least late March (four-plus weeks of rest) and will certainly occur in a first-level allowance race rather than a stakes.
“He didn’t start serious training until Labor Day, so we knew the debut wouldn’t come until Fair Grounds,” Stall said. “We just didn’t know when he’d be ready, and when they came around for Triple Crown nominations we said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’
“Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have a horse pointing for the series, but [Bind] still needed a couple workouts, so we held off.”
Stall said that he expects Bind’s next start to involve stretching out, although not necessarily around two turns. He said there is a race on opening day (Friday, April 8) of the Keeneland Race Course spring meeting on the Beard course (seven furlongs, 184 feet around one turn). That race would give the colt 48 days between starts.
“I can’t even offer an opinion on what to expect next because this is something that’s never happened before,” Friedman said. “We form opinions based on patterns and what we’ve seen before, but we’ve never seen this. It’s not unprecedented for a three-year-old to run this kind of number in February, but nobody has done it first-time out before.”
Bind is the first winner out of the unraced Unbridled mare Check, a half sister to Grade 3-winning full sisters Watch and War Thief, both by Lord At War (Arg), as well as Grade 3 winner and sire Prime Meridian and graded stakes-placed stakes winners Remind and Stop Watch. Claiborne, as agent, consigned Bind to the 2009 Keeneland September yearling sale, but he did not sell on a final bid of $180,000.
Ed DeRosa is news editor of Thoroughbred Times
READER COMMENTS
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Posted by: Robert , Louisville, KY on February 25, 2011 at 12:46 PM
This colt being by Pulpit, probably could get the Derby distance, but more than likely he won't. Based on his pedigree, he will probably be effective up to 1 1/8 miles. Unbridled puts a little more stamina in there, but Pulpit takes it right out. I think they are right in not rushing him. He seems to be a nice colt who can make Claiborne alot of money.
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Posted by: Lexi, WAKEFILED, MA on February 25, 2011 at 08:44 AM
Claiborne & Al Stall get it right, they don't push a young horse to inflate their own sad egos..Probably why Claiborne has been around 100 years..Oh, to long for the old days....
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Posted by: Kara, Lincoln, CA on February 24, 2011 at 06:54 PM
Good for ALL the connections involved with this horse. It's so damn refreshing to see a trainer and owners who are more concerned with doing right by their horse, than with just getting to a Triple Crown race to feed their own ego. I hope to see Bind have a long and successful career...maybe a Breeders Cup race will be in his future should he continue to race well and stay sound. Congrats to all the connections of Bind...and thank you for giving this sport a glorious boost in your care for a great looking colt with what looks to be a promising future.
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