Mountain Top Futurity ($150.000 Purse)
RUI- For Two Year Olds Foaled In NM
Five Furlongs on the Dirt
June 25, 2023
With eleven two-year-olds in the starting gate for the Mountain Top Futurity, there was plenty of opportunity for a young horse to step up and get a big win early in their careers. This can be the type of race where a longshot winner will not be unusual at all, nor would a maiden winner be out of the question. Both would occur here, as Grave Authority, at 16/1 odds, pulled off the win, his first in what was his second start. We did have him as one of our picks, but not as the winner. He is trained by Asgar and was ridden by K Serrano. For each, it is their first win in the race. Congratulations go out to them! The race was run in a time of :57.68, which is an average winning time for the stake over its history. Let’s take a look at it now!
(1/4 Mile- :22.60- There isn’t an aggressive push to the front by anyone in the field, so we end up with a five wide group after a quarter mile all running side by side. T Boy Racing’s Whiskey Party will have a head in front as runs in the fourth lane. Among the three to his inside is our eventual winner, Grave Authority, for Asgar, and his stablemate, Magic Runner is right there with him, as is Arindel’s Key Sinche. In the outside lane, Bregman keeps pace well with this group, for Luz International. Only a length behind them, we have a group of four, so things were indeed very tight here in the opening moments. These horses would be Forgotten Impact (Bears Stable), Puppy Plex (Jive Inc), Tribal Chief (Mb Stables), and Rattling Necklace (T Boy Racing). Trailing the field, and only a length behind those four, are Hanny Beatrice (Jive Inc) and his stablemate Revis Island.
(1/2 Mile- :45.85, Top of Stretch, 1F To Go)- The field would remain packed very tight with one another, so there would soon become trainers who would be frustrated with the trips that there horses were getting simply because they had nowhere to go. The best position to be in right now would be to be among the front pack, and that was good news for Grave Authority, who started to inch away from the other four a little bit on exit of the turn. Key Sinche, Whiskey Party, and Bregman were all still in contention, but Magic Runner could not keep up. The four stalkers were looking for anywhere to go at this point, and the best opportunity was for Forgotten Impact, as he could simply follow Grave Authority. Puppy Plex was having a tough time of it, as you could tell he had some run ready to unleash, just nowhere to go with it. Tribal Chief would take the outside lane.
(Finish- :57.68)- In the stretch, Grave Authority was looking good for a while, but then he started to move out just a little bit, so we couldn’t give him the win yet. Bregman’s consistent run kept him in contention, and coming out of nowhere now was Hanny Beatrice. He had taken advantage of the rail, which Magic Runner had been in and dropped through the field. Hanny Beatrice was coming, making the pass Forgotten Impact and setting his sights on the leader. But Grave Authority would have just enough left for these dying moments of the race to hang on and win by half a length, over Bregman, and Hanny Beatrice takes third. Forgotten Impact takes the fourth-place check by half a length over Tribal Chief and Key Sinche. Rounding it out, we have Puppy Plex, Whiskey Party, Magic Runner, Rattling Necklace, and Revis Island.
About The Winner- Grave Authority, trained by Asgar and ridden to victory by K Serrano, is a two-year-old gelding by Graveyard, and is out of Cannes Authority. He was bred in New Mexico as a yearling by his trainer, and they have been together throughout. Congratulations to the connections! In his second start, this was his first career win, and he now has career earnings of $97.360.
Track: Fast
Time: :223 :454 :573
$2 Mutuel Prices:
$1 Exacta: 3 – 9 Paid 73.50
$1 Trifecta: 3 – 9 – 8 Paid 797.30
Scratched: None
— NS
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded
