Texas-Bred Closing Act Undefeated Following Astoria Win

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Texas-Bred Closing Act Undefeated Following Astoria Win
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Walter Wlodarczyk
Closing Act wins the Astoria Stakes at Belmont Park

Douglas Scharbauer's Texas homebred Closing Act  moved to a perfect 2-for-2 with an off-the-pace victory under Irad Ortiz Jr. in the $145,500 Astoria Stakes June 11 at Belmont Park.

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, the daughter of Munnings   added to a debut graduation by a neck May 11 at Churchill Downs where she delivered a similar rallying performance under Tyler Gaffalione.


"She made a few mistakes first time out and we told Irad that we thought she'd be more forwardly placed and more professional, and she was," said Scott Blasi, assistant to Asmussen. "She got a lot out of her first race. Super proud of her today. She's really gone through a growth spurt this month and she's filling out and looks beautiful."

Closing Act broke cleanly from the outermost post 5 to track behind the sharp-starting pacesetter Union Suit , who widened her advantage to one length midway down the backstretch and marked an opening quarter-mile in :22.33 over the fast main track while Golden Ghost  rated in second and Closing Act went head-to-head with Donate Life  for third.

Union Suit maintained her advantage in the turn as Golden Ghost and Donate Life dropped back with Closing Act advancing with purpose on the far outside under coaxing from Ortiz, It was Closing Act's race to lose at the top of the lane as she overpowered her pacesetting rival and drew away down the stretch to post the 3 1/4-length victory in a final time of 1:06.59.

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Union Suit stayed on for place honors by 1 1/2 lengths over the late-running Living Magic  with Golden Ghost and Donate Life completing the order of finish. Low Mileage  was scratched.

Ortiz said he used his best judgement to decide when to ask Closing Act for her best run.

"She's nice. She broke pretty well with the field, but when close to the turn the inside horse (Union Suit) got a little advantage on me," Ortiz said. "I couldn't clear anybody so I had to stay there. After that, I had to make her go a little early. It's only a 5 1/2 (furlong race) so I couldn't do too much. I just made her go forward and she responded really well so I just kept going."

Blasi said Closing Act could be pointed towards the $150,000 Texas Thoroughbred Association Futurity July 1 at Lone Star Park next.

"We'll talk to Steve about what's next. She's eligible for the Sales Futurity—she is a Texas-bred—so we have options," Blasi said. "But, you know what, we are really happy to get done what we got done today."

Closing Act returned $3.40 for a $2 win ticket and banked $82,500 in victory, boosting her total lifetime purse earnings past the six-figure mark to $124,500.