Highly Motivated Shaves Track Record in Nyquist Stakes
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Photo: Keeneland/Coady Photography
Highly Motivated wins the Nyquist Stakes in a record-setting 1:14.99 at Keeneland
Favorite Highly Motivated and 8-1 shot Joy's Rocket were the juveniles that prevailed in a pair of $125,000 stakes going 6 1/2 furlongs that kicked off the Breeders' Cup World Championships Nov. 6 card at Keeneland.
Highly Motivated, a son of Into Mischief who left the gate in the Nyquist Stakes at 5-2, stalked a quick pace set by Dare to Dream Stable's highly regarded Quick Tempo, who led the field through brisk opening fractions of :21.73 and :44.65. The front end started to become more congested as they rounded out of the turn and into the top of the stretch where jockey Javier Castellano moved Highly Motivated toward the middle of the track. The favorite steadily erased the gap separating him from Quick Tempo and took command of the race with a furlong to go, then drew away to win by 4 1/4 lengths and shaved the track record by 1/100th of a second in 1:14.99. C Z Rocket, who will be competing in the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), set the previous record of 1:15 back in July.
The winner paid $7.20, $3.80, and $3. Quick Tempo hung in for second and paid $5.80 and $3.80. Roderick was third, paying $6.40.
Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stable bred Highly Motivated out of the stakes winner Strong Incentive, which Klaravich also campaigned with trainer Chad Brown, who is the conditioner of Highly Motivated. The colt was run through the 2018 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale as a weanling because Klaravich was buying out a partner. Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan made the final bid of $240,000. The colt made his debut Aug. 29 at Saratoga Race Course, where he finished second by a neck. He won his second start at Belmont Park going 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:17.82 and winning by 1 3/4 lengths.
Highly Motivated is the fourth black-type-winning 2-year-old for Spendthrift Farm's marquee sire Into Mischief this year and his 27th black-type winner among all starters for 2020.
Straightforward Score in Songbird
Joy's Rocket and jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. were much more straightforward in their victory in the Songbird Stakes.
Joy's Rocket wins the Songbird Stakes
The daughter of Anthony's Cross went right to the lead and never saw another horse. She got some pressure throughout from Farsighted, but shook free of that rival at the top of the stretch and drew away to win by three lengths. The final time was 1:16.18.
The winner paid $19, $8.40, and $5.80. Farsighted held on for second and paid $6.40 and $4.20. Roc's Princess, a 70-1 longshot, rolled in for third and paid $19. A $1 exacta paid $77.90, and the 50-cent trifecta paid $1,276.85.
Joy's Rocket was one of three fillies in the field that had already been tested in a graded stakes. She came into the Songbird off a fourth-place finish in the Frizette Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park. The Songbird gave her a third win from five starts.
Charles Weston's Weston Thoroughbreds Training and Sales bred Joy's Rocket in Florida out of the Special Rate mare Queenie's Pride. The filly was bought at this year's Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale for $47,000 by trainer Steve Asmussen for Jay Hanley's Team Hanley racing stable. Parkland Thoroughbreds bought into the filly before the Frizette.
Anthony's Cross entered stud at Pleasant Acres Stallions near Ocala, Fla., and now stands at Special T Thoroughbreds in California, where his 2020 fee was $2,500.
Video: Nyquist S. (BT)