DMR Futurity (Grade 1)- $250.000 Purse
DMR- For Two Year Olds
Seven Furlongs on the Dirt
September 7, 2020
In the DMR Futurity, a field of twelve horses got together in what could be considered a chance for them to pick up the first big win of their careers and try to make a name for themselves going forward. There were no graded stake winners in the field, so this was a great opportunity. A few had won an ungraded stake, but a great race seemed in store for those of us looking to find out some names that we will be hearing a lot from early next year. The odds board was as wide open as you could expect for a race like this, and in the end, it would be Smokey Stover and Pocantico pulling off the win at 10/1 for the trainers first win in the race. Jockey A Beschizza won the race for the second consecutive year, having also been aboard Spirited Stride last year. Congratulations to them! The race was run in a time of 1:22.30. Let’s take a look!
(¼ Mile- :23.19)- Out of the gate, our eventual winner, Smokey Stover’s Pocantico engages in a battle with Sports Page, from Aer Stables, for the early advantage. These two clear their rivals by length and a quickly and got at it a little bit before Pocantico retreats into a stalking position, allowing Sports Page to to lead by a length. Pocantico was now the middle horse of three that were right behind him. To his inside was the experienced Dawn Rider from John Henry, and the Mb Stables-trained People Pleaser was to his outside. Hunting Foxes, from D J C Racing Stables, was looking to get involved with this group as well, and Creepy Havoc, from Estero Farms, was also close by. In the middle of the field, Full Body Cast (Mb Stables), In A Major Way (Jive Inc), and Marine One (Smokey Stover) were next. It was a couple lengths more back to Nashua (Fractious), and the trailers would be the longshot Babylonian (Barcelona Farms) and Seattle Sloo (Waldo).
(½ Mile- :46.19)- Sports Page keeps running strong on the front end, with People Pleaser starting to get close enough to notice on the outside. Early in the backstretch, Pocantico was content to hold back a bit, but as they completed this portion he was shoved down a lane by an aggressive move by Dawn Rider to come off the rail. For Dawn Rider, this was a great move, allowing him to now move between the two front runners, but it pushed Pocantico to be directly behind People Pleaser when that was not going to be the case before the move. Hunting Foxes had moved up into this group, but was not affected by the move of Dawn Rider. The action behind them was much more peaceful as we began to move around the turn.
(Top Of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- It is still Sports Page at the front, and while others were setting up to make their move to go by, Sports Page seemed to be in a good spot here if he could maintain his stride. Dawn Rider, as anticipated, looked to come between he and People Pleaser, while Pocantico was able to react just fine in the long run and move into the fourth line. At this time, he had Hunting Foxes matching strides with him to his outside. Creepy Havoc began to come forward now, with the move of Dawn Rider previously creating a nice opening on the rail for him to come through and take advantage of now. In A Major Way was looking good on the far outside, and from the others it still remained to be seen what they may do.
(Finish- 1:22.30)– Midway through the stretch, Sports Page became unable to hold off all of his challengers as Pocantico emerged from the group of stalkers that had been behind him. He was best in the late moments, but had a new concern to worry about as Creepy Havoc made a great bid from the inside. The wire would come up just in time for Pocantico, winning by a neck over Creepy Havoc, and Sports Page hanging onto third. Behind them, wow. Yes, that is a three-way dead heat for fourth between Hunting Foxes, In A Major Way, and Nashua, with Dawn Rider just .01 away from making it a four-way, and People Pleaser within .04 of it. Full Body Cast, and Marine One are within half a length of it, and running out the order, it is Babylonian and Seattle Sloo.
About The Winner- Pocantico, trained by Smokey Stover and ridden to victory by A Beschizza, is a two year old gelding by Decima, and is out of Happy Clapper. It is the second graded winner for Happy Clapper in the last two weeks as Carnoustie won the Amsterdam last week. Congratulations to the connections! Pocantico was bred in California by Smokey Stover as a first quarter two year old, and has now won three of six for his career, with this being his first stake win of any sort. His career earnings are now $231.510.
Track: Fast
Time: :23 :46 1:094 1:221
$2 Mutuel Prices:
$1 Exacta: 4 – 2 Paid 99.00
$1 Trifecta: 4 – 2 – 5 Paid 750.90
Scratched: None
— NS
Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES
