Making the Grade: Daredevil

Daredevil wins the Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
Making the Grade, which will run through the 2015 Belmont Stakes, focuses on the winners of the big races, usually from the previous weekend, who could impact the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile as well as the next Triple Crown. We’ll be taking a close look at impressive winners and evaluating their chances to win important races based upon ability, running style, connections (owner, trainer, jockey) and pedigree.
This week we take a closer look at Daredevil, winner of the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes on Oct. 4 at Belmont Park. 

With two wins in two starts, including a Grade 1 victory in the Champagne Stakes on Oct. 4, it’s pretty clear that Daredevil has a bright future. Just how bright might be clouded a bit by the fact that both of his victories have come on wet tracks. Let’s dig a little deeper and try to get a feel for this More Than Ready colt’s chances in the upcoming Breeders’ Cup Juvenile as well as the Triple Crown races in 2015.

Daredevil
Chestnut Colt
Sire (Father): More Than Ready
Dam (Mother): Chasethewildwind, by Forty Niner
Owner: Let’s Go Stable
Breeder: Marianne I. Chase and Brandon L. Chase (Ky.)
Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Ability: Trainer Todd Pletcher purchased Daredevil as agent for owner Let’s Go Stable for $260,000 at the 2013 Keeneland September yearling sale. Kevin Scatuorchio and Bryan Sullivan of Let’s Go Stable are very familiar with his sire, More Than Ready, a Grade 1 winner who was raced by Kevin’s father and Bryan’s father-in-law, James Scatuorchio, and trained by the aforementioned Pletcher.
Like More Than Ready, who won his first five races, Daredevil is off to a fast start.
Daredevil streaked to a clear early lead in his debut after a blistering half-mile in :44.94. He won that 6-furlong race at Belmont Park by 6 ¼ lengths in 1:09.87 on a muddy track and earned an 86 Equibase Speed Figure.
The jump from a maiden special weight race to the Grade 1 Champagne proved a slightly tougher test as Daredevil won by 2 ½ lengths in the slop at Belmont going a mile. He completed the mile in 1:36.62, which was :02.80 faster than 2-year-old fillies covered the same distance an hour earlier, also on a sealed, sloppy track. Daredevil’s 110 Equibase Speed Figure for the Champagne was four points faster than any other 2-year-old this year in stakes competition.
Running style: Daredevil was hustled to the front in his career debut but showed another dimension in the Champagne. He again broke alertly and his natural speed carried him up near the pace, but when a couple of challengers also moved up on his inside, Daredevil relaxed comfortably on the outside while fourth on the backstretch. He remained under a tight hold from rider Javier Castellano until he rolled into the stretch, where he powered away under just the slightest of urging. He coasted to the finish line a comfortable victor with Castellano motionless while runner-up Upstart cut into the lead by a length or two under steady urging from jockey Jose Ortiz. The result was that he was a much easier winner than the margin of victory suggests.
DAREDEVIL ROMPS IN THE CHAMPAGNE SLOP

Connections: Owner Let’s Go Stable is probably best known for campaigning 2013 Wood Memorial and Haskell Invitational Stakes winner Verrazano, whom it purchased for $250,000 at the 2011 Keeneland September yearling sale. Let’s Go initially raced Verrazano as his sole owner before selling an interest to the associates of Coolmore prior to his Tampa Bay Derby victory.
Let’s Go Stable finished third in the 2008 Belmont Stakes with Ready’s Echo and also raced multiple graded stakes winner Divine Oath and Grade 2 winner El Padrino, who is Verrazano’s half-brother (same dam [mother], different sire [father]).
Six-time Eclipse Award winner Todd Pletcher, who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 2010 with Uncle Mo and in 2012 with Shanghai Bobby, trains Daredevil. Pletcher won the Kentucky Derby in 2010 with Super Saver and the Belmont Stakes in 2007 with Rags to

Previous Making the Grades
Competitive Edge
American Pharoah
Carpe Diem

 Riches and 2013 with Palace Malice.
Daredevil has had two different jockeys for his two different starts, but you can’t go wrong with either one. Hall of Famer John Velazquez was aboard for his debut and 2013 Eclipse Award winner Javier Castellano, currently the leading North American rider by wins, purse earning and stakes wins, guided Daredevil to victory in the Champagne.
Pedigree: More Than Ready is one of the more versatile sires standing in the United States. He also has shuttled to Australia, where he is extremely popular, for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season every year since 2001. Australian champions More Joyous, Phelan Ready and Sebring are among his standouts along with Verrazano, 2011 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Regally Ready, 2010 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Pluck and 2010 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf victress More Than Real.
VERRAZANO WINS 2013 HASKELL

More Than Ready is capable of siring elite runners on dirt, grass and synthetic surfaces but tends to be more proficient with sprinters and milers than longer-distance runners.
Daredevil appears to have been blessed with More Than Ready’s high cruising speed, which Verrazano showed can be a very dangerous weapon.
Daredevil’s dam (mother) is the Forty Niner mare Chasethewildwind, whose three wins all came sprinting. Chasethewildwind also is the dam of Grade 1 winner Albertus Maximus, who won the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, and Grade 3-placed winner Chasethegold.
Daredevil’s grandam (maternal grandmother) is Grade 1 winner Race the Wild Wind, winner of the 1993 Santa Maria Handicap going 1 1/16 miles on the main track. Race the Wild Wind produced French Group 1 winner King Charlemagne and group stakes winner Meshaheer as well as Chasetheragingwind, the dam of Grade 1 winner Here Comes Ben.
This is a family that is very high on class but a little light on stamina.
It remains to be seen if Daredevil’s brilliance will translate to a fast main track, but judging by the class in his pedigree I would wager he’s much more than simply a colt who loves a sloppy track.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Daredevil’s class and talent allow him to remain an elite runner going around two turns, specifically in three weeks in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He probably will challenge for favoritism in that 1 1/16-mile race and for good reason. More Than Ready is proficient at siring elite 2-year-olds with 53 juvenile stakes winners, and Daredevil appears to be precocious and extremely fast.
The 1 ¼-mile Kentucky Derby would really test his stamina. There have been many classic winners in recent years whose talent carried them beyond distance limitations suggested by their pedigrees, and that might need to be the case for Daredevil on the Triple Crown trail in 2015.