Field Pass Gets the Jump on Sacred Life in Seabiscuit
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Field Pass edges New York nemesis Sacred Life in the Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar
Not much separates Field Pass and Sacred Life , a truism whether at Belmont Park on the East Coast or Del Mar on the West Coast. The difference in the Nov. 27 Seabiscuit Handicap (G2T) at Del Mar was officially a head in Field Pass' favor, but the real difference may have been jockey Umberto Rispoli.
California-based Rispoli took over on Field Pass in the Seabiscuit for trainer Michael Maker. The jockey decided upon a tactic midway on the backstretch of the 1 1/16-mile race that may have made the difference.
When Field Pass and Sacred Life last met, in the 1 1/8-mile Knickerbocker Stakes at Belmont Park Oct. 10, Sacred Life nipped Field Pass at the wire by a head after Field Pass led throughout.
In the Seabiscuit, Field Pass did not jump out to the early lead. Instead, Rispoli sat back and watched the pace unfold. It was a scenario that Nolan Ramsey, Maker's assistant, predicted a couple of days before the race.
"He's a pretty tactical horse," Ramsey said. "He has good speed, but he doesn't have to have the lead and he doesn't have to come from too far out of it. So the jock can play the break and try to work out a good trip."
That is precisely what Rispoli did.
Lambeau , who usually leads early, stumbled badly at the start. But it didn't take long for him to recover and move up to grab the lead from Flop Shot and Bob and Jackie . Lambeau completed the first quarter-mile in :23.77 and a half-mile in :48.19.
Rispoli sat in fifth with Field Pass around the first turn, and as the field swung onto the backstretch, Field Pass was running easily, behind the first flight and ahead of the second, all by himself. But Rispoli knew the pace was slow.
The jockey urged Field Pass forward on the backstretch.
"I didn't want to stop the stride of my horse," Rispoli explained later. "He was running happy, and I was happy too."
Field Pass responded eagerly, passing horses deftly and soon dueling with Bob and Jackie around the second turn.
Turning into the stretch, Field Pass had the lead, which he built up to 1 1/2 lengths. But Sacred Life, second-to-last early, was just getting started for jockey Jose Ortiz.
Rallying four wide, Sacred Life bore down on Field Pass. Indian Peak was closing as well on the outside of Sacred Life. The three battled briefly, but soon it was Field Pass and Sacred Life together again. This time Field Pass held off Sacred Life by a head, stopping the timer in 1:41.85. Indian Peak finished three-quarters of a length back in third.
"He's one of those horses that once you make the move, there's no turning back," said Ramsey. "He's a classy horse who has gotten the job done in a lot of places, and I'm very proud of him."
Maker trains Field Pass for Kirk Wycoff's Three Diamonds Farm, an operation that has its roots in Wycoff meeting his wife, Debra, through riding jumpers. Kirk and Debra, who live in Pennsylvania, have three children, for whom Three Diamonds is named. Wycoff, now a managing partner in an equity firm, once trained horses at Penn National, and Debra still rides jumpers.
The Seabiscuit is Field Pass' first grade 2 victory, though the 4-year-old son of Lemon Drop Kid --Only Me , by Runaway Groom , has won four grade 3 races. Two of those have come on turf and the other two on synthetic surfaces. The colt hasn't competed on dirt since his 2-year-old season in 2019, when he was unplaced in a Churchill Downs race.
Mark Brown Grier bred Field Pass in Maryland. Becky Davis consigned Field Pass to the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale, where Owls Bloodstock purchased him for $37,000.
Video: Seabiscuit H. (G2T)
Tezzaray Hands Miller a Final Stakes Win Before Training Hiatus
Tezzaray noses out Awake At Midnyte in the Jimmy Durante Stakes at Del Mar
On Nov. 19 trainer Peter Miller, a namestay on the Southern California circuit, announced he would be stepping away from his training operation Nov. 29. He sent out 15 runners over the Holiday weekend, winning two races Friday and walking away Saturday with what might be his last stakes victory for awhile with Tezzaray in the $100,000 Jimmy Durante Stakes (G3T).
Twice third in England for trainer K R Burke, the British-bred juvenile filly was sent overseas to Miller's barn in the fall, where she stylishly scored in her North American debut at Del Mar. The effort was enough to convince Miller to throw the filly into stakes company, where she faced a competitive group of 11 in the Jimmy Durante.
Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., fresh off the plane from Kentucky where he rode the Nov. 26 card at Churchill Downs, positioned Tezzaray in fourth place along the rail through the race's early stages. Liam's Dove dictated the early pace, setting a moderate tempo of :23.41 and :48.52. Ortiz Jr. moved Tezzaray into contention around the turn, tipping her two wide into the lane as the entire field bore down on a free-running Liam's Dove in a chase to the wire. In the final sixteenth, Liam's Dove yielded to the closers, and it was Tezzaray who found a second gear in between horses, thrusting her nose in front of Awake At Midnyte in the shadow of the wire.
“I had a good trip," said Ortiz, Jr. "I was in a little tight at the three-eighth pole, but that wasn’t anything big. She’s a very European filly; she likes to run covered up. When it came time to run—boom—she went.”
Awake At Midnyte was a half length in front of 45-1 longshot Toeris , who annexed third by a head over race favorite Helens Well . The mile on a firm turf course was timed in 1:37.56.
Tezzaray, never off the board in two starts, improved her record to 4-2-0-2 for earnings of $104,997. She is owned by Slam Dunk Racing and Roger H. Newman.
'I had confidence in her," said Miller. "(Tezzaray is) one of those fillies that are very classy and does everything right. I thought we won, then I thought we didn’t, but luckily we got the head bob. I thought all three of my fillies ran very well and all got great rides. Irad (Ortiz, Jr.) had a really clean trip and once he got her in the clear she really kicked home.”
Bred by Lady Richard Wellesley, Tezzaray is a daughter of Bated Breath and the winning Cadeaux Genereux (GB) mare Amber Queen. She hails from the family of grade 1 winners Labeeb and Spinning Queen (GB).