Imperial Hint Makes it Look Easy in Vanderbilt
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Imperial Hint and Javier Castellano are all alone at the finish of the Vanderbilt at Saratoga Race Course
In the moments after the $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1), Javier Castellano was being interviewed on horseback when the 5-year-old warrior beneath him decided to spook at some unseen force and test his Hall of Fame pilot's balance for a quick second.
Considering what Imperial Hint had just done to his six rivals in the six-furlong test at Saratoga Race Course, it was generous of the son of Imperialism to use all his spare energy to give his jockey something to do.
Castellano has racked up a country mile of top-level victories in his storied career, but few have come with the level of condescending ease his dark bay/brown partner provided him July 28. After rating off quick early fractions, Imperial Hint crushed his competition like a row of soda cans Saturday, drawing off to a 3 3/4-length win over Warrior's Club under a hand ride that was even more comfortable than the final margin suggested.
"It basically was an easy ride," Castellano said, providing an understatement to go along with the emphatic effort.
It was the kind of breakout run the Luis Carvajal Jr.-trained runner had been on the verge of for the better part of a year.
Imperial Hint came into the Vanderbilt having won seven of his past nine starts, with the only real step backward being a sixth-place finish over a sloppy (sealed) surface in the May 5 Churchill Downs Stakes presented by Twinspires.com (G2). He bounced out of that rare off-the-board effort with a win over Whitmore in the June 8 True North Stakes (G2) and had the full respect of the betting public Saturday, being sent off as the 4-5 favorite to get himself and his connections over the grade 1 hump.
"When he runs, I always expect him to do this well," Carvajal said. "Winning here at Saratoga, this kind of race, it's my first grade 1 for me (and) my owner (Raymond Mamone). It's just fantastic.
"That's the way I wanted to see him win. For Imperial Hint, it's great to have a grade 1."
Imperial Hint has shown the handiness to be placed anywhere his jockey desires. With Switzerland battling with Mr. Crow up front through an opening quarter-mile in :21.70, Castellano kept his mount just off the pace in an outside path in fourth. As the half went in :44.39, Imperial Hint was rolling up four wide around the final turn and left Castellano to do his best statue impersonation from there.
"I liked the way he did it the last time (in the True North), and I liked the way he went today, also," Castellano said. "He doesn't have to hook up with the speed. He doesn't have to set the pace, and I think now he can settle back a little bit and then he finds the last kick. (It was) very impressive today the way he performed. I could have opened up by 10, but he is a great horse, and I enjoyed the ride."
With Imperial Hint cruising as he reached the wire in a final time of 1:08.98 over a track rated good, the hard-knocking Warrior's Club came on to get place honors, with 35-1 longshot Sweetontheladies third. Mr. Crow was fourth, with Switzerland, Petrov, and Done Deal completing the order of finish.
Bred in Florida by Shade Tree Thoroughbreds out of the Lahint mare Royal Hint, Imperial Hint improved his record to 11 wins from 17 starts, with earnings of $1,210,155. He was second, beaten a length, in last year's TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), with a return engagement in that spot this year the main target again.
"It'll probably be (in) New York (his next start), we don't know yet," Carvajal said. "I'll pick a spot. Now I have to keep him sound and healthy, and hopefully I can go back to the Breeders' Cup. Probably right now, I'll keep him at three-quarters (of a mile)."