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Article from http://www.saratogaracingdaily.com/2006/
News and Notes - Aug 31 »
Change of Style for Zito
Another first-out winner for Nick Zito on Wednesday; don't look now,
but the guy who doesn't win with his debut runners is leading the pack
with no less than six, all two-year olds. There's an interesting
interview with the trainer in the Saratoga Special, in which he says
that he has indeed changed his approach to hs two-year olds; first
races. "We just changed our style a little bit, changed
direction...A lot of people want to see instant success and
gratification. I had to join them I guess.....You just have to have
them ready and it's a little bit different procedure."
His latest was Successful Ways in Wednesday's second. He's a son of
the highly successful juvenile sire Successful
Appeal, standing for $25,000 (now 2007- $40000 fee) at Walmac.
Part of an entry, he was sent off at 5-1, as the bettors opted for the
two logical ones with form, Media City and, especially, Reaffirm, the
Pletcher entry who had run extremely well in his debut.
This was a great race on an otherwise glum day at the races, or as
much so as things can possibly get around here. Five races washed off
the turf and another small crowd of a bit over 12,000. I wonder if it's
the same 12,000 people coming everyday since the Travers. With the
weather so awful on Sunday, it seems as if anyone who wasn't stuck here
for the duration skipped town. And there's little apparent sign of a
big pickup for the weekend. There's some concern about the path of the
remnants of Ernesto coming here Saturday, but I'm told by an informed
source that the bad weather should be headed west of here.
Back to Successful Ways, he rocketed to the
lead from the
outside, and got away with a half of 46.57 after a first quarter of
22.11. He needed the rest, because he had to fight off a late challenge
from Hometown Boy. This Came Home colt making his debut for Stanley
Hough was as dead as could be on the board; 4-1 morning line for a guy
with a reputation with two-year olds, but 10-1 on the board; and
hesitant to load no less. But he came
flying and looked like was going
to blow by Zito's colt. He was a bit green to be sure, but that
shouldn't detract from the gameness that the winner showed, battling
back under Fernando Jara to get a nose win.
Successful Ways is out of a Devil's Bag mare; his second dam
is Lien, who for some reason I remember like it was far more recently
than 1980, when she won the Prioress for Eddie Maple and trainer Pat
Kelly, who has had such a fine meeting here this year. I must have won
a bet on her, and probably more than once. Lien is a half-sister to
Sultry Sun, the dam of Solar Splendor and Sultry Song.
Runner-up Hometown Boy is out of a stakes-placed Storm Cat mare, and
her second dam is the champion Eliza, winner of the 1992 Breeders Cup
Juvenile Fillies.
So here's the stats on Zito with juvenile first-timers at this
Saratoga meeting, thanks, as always, to Formulator.. He's sent out 14
and has six winners, a percentage of around 43%, as well as two
seconds. And his winners have paid very well. The lowest was 5-2, and
another was 3-1. There were two 5-1's, a 6-1, and Boogie Boggs was
11-1.
Man, some of the other races on Wednesday were just painful to
watch, as horses staggered to the finish. Market Psychology, a hot
firster for Richard Violette, needed 26.17 seconds to hold off a field
of state-bred maidens in the 4th. Tall Story, 3-5 against three others
in a decimated off-the-turf field, limped home in an agonizing-to-watch
41.30 for the last three furlongs, giving Tom Albertrani his first
winner other than Bernardini. Changeisgonnacome won his seven furlong
off-the-turf stakes with a final furlong of 13.69. But in each of these
cases, nobody was able to take advantage. This
may be recorded as a speed-favoring track, but other than Successful
Ways, Hometown Boy, and the most impressive Ferocious Fires, there
wasn't really much speed at all. |
