I'm Very Busy Gets Busy in Time to Win Muniz Memorial
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Photo: Hodges Photography / Lou Hodges, Jr.
I'm Very Busy wins the Muniz Memorial Classic Stakes at Fair Grounds
I'm Very Busy got busy once the field turned for home in the Muniz Memorial Classic Stakes (G2T) March 23 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, roaring down the middle of the track to score his first stakes victory by 3 3/4 lengths.
The 4-year-old Pennsylvania-bred colt, trained by Chad Brown, started from the outside gate 13—an issue that jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. admitted had him worried as he warmed up for the 1 1/8 miles on the turf.
Ortiz worked it out perfectly, dropping I'm Very Busy down to the rail, well back of the brisk early pace made by confirmed front-runner Strong Quality . I'm Very Busy then was caught in some tight traffic while running down the backstretch but worked his way to the outside on the turn, chasing Gigante , who had inherited the lead from a tiring Strong Quality.
Showing an impressive turn of foot on the course rated "good" after rain earlier in the week, I'm Very Busy hit the lead nearing the sixteenth pole and quickly kicked clear, finishing in 1:47.57.
Gigante held on for second, a half-length in front of Webslinger with Beatbox fourth.
"It was hard even before the race because of the post, especially in this kind of race," Ortiz said. "I was to the outside and we got lucky. I saved some ground into the first turn. We thought we were going to be a little closer but it worked out perfect.
"The horse made it look easy."
Although it was his first stakes win, I'm Very Busy had sent a very strong signal that he was ready for a step forward in his 4-year-old year season when he finished second in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (G1T) at Gulfstream Park Jan. 27. In that race, his late run fell just a half-length short of defeating Warm Heart , a multiple group 1-winning filly for Ireland's Coolmore partners who finished second in the 2023 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) at Santa Anita Park.
His only previous wins came in a 2022 maiden special weight at Saratoga Race Course in his career debut and an allowance race in October 2023 at the Belmont at the Big A meeting. Ortiz said expectations had remained high as the horse benefitted from his exposure to racing.
"He's always been nice," Ortiz said. "I think this year he's changed his mind, got more experience. But Chad has loved this horse since day one. He's the one who's kept telling me to ride this horse and he's right. He's a very nice horse."
Out of the Kissin Kris mare Two Kisses, I'm Very Busy is the first Northern Hemisphere graded stakes winner for sire Cloud Computing , who stands for $3,500 at Pin Oak Lane Farm in New Freedom, Pa. Bred by Glenn E. Brok and Mark Toothaker, I'm Very Busy sold for $135,000 at the 2022 Ocala Breeders' March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. He races for Team Hanley, Richard Schermerhorn, and Paul Braverman.