Yaupon Headed for Elite Company After Amsterdam Score
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Yaupon wins the Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
When Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt bid farewell to the blazingly quick Mitole upon his retirement last season, little did they know that a similarly speedy runner was waiting in the wings.
The Uncle Mo colt Yaupon was unraced as a juvenile, won his unveiling June 20 at Churchill Downs, and stepped up the ladder with an allowance score July 18 at Saratoga Race Course. But he took it to the next level Aug. 29 with a frontrunning two-length blitz of the $150,000 Amsterdam Stakes (G2).
"He's extremely fast. He's got an elite amount of speed," said Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, the same man who called Mitole the fastest horse he'd ever trained. "It's very important that a horse with his physical (gifts)—and as fast as he is—is a graded stakes winner here at Saratoga. I think we can sit down and map out a serious future for him from here."
Yaupon made it 3-for-3 Saturday with a good start from post 2 under jockey Joel Rosario, who sent him straight to the front of a six-horse field. Clicking through an opening quarter in :21.93 and a half in :44.68 on a muddy and sealed main track, the dark bay colt was easily clear through five-eighths in :56.36 and carried on to victory in the six-furlong sprint in a final time of 1:08.50.
"He broke out of there well. I was trying to get a forward position and he put himself on the lead," Rosario said. "He went on well. He's a very talented horse. He had no problem (with the surface)."
Hopeful Stakes (G1) winner Basin was second in his first start for Todd Pletcher, and Premier Star finished two lengths back in third. Wondrwherecraigis, Long Weekend, and Liam's Pride completed the order of finish.
"The winner was very good," Pletcher said. "We were hoping for a bit of a speed duel, but it never really developed. We were pleased with the effort though."
Yaupon rewarded the backers who sent him off as a 7-5 favorite, returning $4.80 on a $2 win wager.
"He had very minor issues, but it was just the physics of it when you're capable of going that fast," Asmussen said. "We wanted to give him all the maturity we could. We were trying to follow a similar plan with him as we were with Mitole for the Heiligbrodts. They had expected to run him over the winter at the Fair Grounds, but he had another minor issue, so we erred on the side of caution as far as waiting and letting him get to 100%."
A $255,000 purchase by East Hickman Bloodstock from Wavertree Stables' consignment to the 2019 Ocala Breeders' Sales June 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale, Yaupon won on an off track for the first time while improving his earnings to $168,264. He was bred in Kentucky by Betz, Lamantia, CoCo Equine, Magers, and Burns out of the Vindication mare Modification, who ran third in the 2009 Humana Distaff Stakes (G1).
The mare is also the dam of the Spring At Last runner Sawyer's Hill, the runner-up in the 2014 Del Mar Derby (G2T) and Twilight Derby (G2T). She produced an American Pharoah filly in 2019 and a Good Magic colt this season and was bred back to Uncle Mo for 2021.