Yaupon Returns to Winning Ways in Lite the Fuse Stakes
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Photo: Jerry Dzierwinski/Maryland Jockey Club
Yaupon wins his third stakes in the Lite the Fuse Stakes at Pimlico Race Course
Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt's multiple graded-stakes winner Yaupon made a triumphant return to Pimlico Race Course July 4, putting away pacesetting Chateau and turning back Laki —both grade 3 winners—to snap a two-race losing streak in the $100,000 Lite the Fuse Stakes.
Yaupon, the favorite set off at 2-5 in a field reduced to four by the scratches of stakes winners Lebda , Threes Over Deuces , and Valued Notion , hit the wire in 1:09.42 for six furlongs over a fast main track to beat Laki by 1 3/4 lengths. Chateau was another 1 3/4 lengths back in third with Whiskey and You fourth.
Yaupon wins the Lite the Fuse Stakes at Pimlico Race Course
Ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr. for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who teamed up to win the July 3 Suburban Stakes (G2) with Max Player at Belmont Park, Yaupon won for the first time since his last trip to Maryland, when he equaled the stakes record of 1:09.10 in the Chick Lang Stakes (G3) last fall. Following the Chick Lang, Yaupon was eighth as the favorite after a troubled trip in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), and finished eighth in his only other start this year in the Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored By Gulf News (G1) March 27 at Meydan Race Course.
"Both my wife and I were glad to see him run his race and return to form," Bill Heiligbrodt said. "He got banged around pretty good in the Breeders' Cup and I was a little worried about that, but today he ran like his old self. That was a really nice race, and there was some decent competition in there. We were really happy with that. He's a really nice horse, a beautiful horse."
Yaupon is a 4-year-old son of Ashford Stud's Uncle Mo , who has sired 71 lifetime black-type winners. The colt is the sixth foal out of grade 1-placed winner Modification, a daughter of Vindication and also the dam of multiple grade 2 stakes-placed winner Sawyer's Hill.
Bred by William Betz, Lamantia, CocCo Equine, Magers, and Burns, Yaupon was a $350,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase by Hoby and Layna Kight from Betz Thoroughbreds. The Kights took the colt to The Gulfstream Sale, Fasig-Tipton's select 2-year-olds in training sale, and bought him back on a final bid of $485,000. The Heiligbrodts would acquire him for $225,000 from East Hickman Bloodstock at the 2019 Ocala Breeders' Sales June Sale of 2-Year-OIds in Training where Wavertree Stables consigned the colt.
Modification has produced for winners from six to race. Her 2-year-old daughter Royal Flower, by American Pharoah , lit up the bid board during the 2019 Keeneland September sale where Mike Rutherford bought her for $1.2 million from Betz Thoroughbreds. The mare has a Good Magic yearling colt and did not have a foal this year.
Ricardo Santana Jr. and Yaupon return to the winner's circle after the Lite the Fuse Stakes at Pimlico Race Course
Tom Fool Stakes (G3) winner Chateau outran Yaupon to the front, leading after a quarter-mile in :22.86 seconds and a half in :45.49. Laki, the 2020 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) winner, tracked in third with Whiskey and You trailing. Laki moved off the rail on the turn to get after Chateau with Yaupon on his outside, and those two were able to get past the early leader after five furlongs in :57.36 seconds with Yaupon steadily edging away approaching the finish.
"Today he broke really sharp. He came from the layoff, and I wanted to give him a little break," Santana said. "I broke and he put me in a good position. I let him take a second deep breath and at the three-eighths pole when my horse felt the other horse, he took off back."
The win helped ease the sting for Santana of having this year's Chick Lang winner Mighty Mischief get his three-race win streak snapped when second to Alwaysinahurry earlier on the card in the $100,000 Concern for 3-year-old sprinters.
"As long as the horse goes back to Kentucky safe, that's important," Santana said. "He ran his race, he tried hard and he was second-best today."
Asmussen came into Sunday having gone 14-for-24 (41%) over the past five years in dirt sprints at both Pimlico and Laurel Park. Many of those races have come with Santana in the irons.
"I owe a lot to Mr. Steve. He put me in the position that I am right now. He's given me a lot of great opportunities and good horses," Santana said. "Yesterday we had a really amazing win with Max Player and today we win another stake with Yaupon. I really feel blessed to be part of his team."