Patternrecognition Wins Kelso in Stakes Debut

In his first stakes start Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence's Patternrecognition looked like a seasoned pro.

After a good break from post 6 under jockey Tyler Gaffalione in the $300,000 Kelso Handicap (G2) at Belmont Park, the 5-year-old son of Adios Charlie  immediately went to the lead and maintained his advantage all the way to the wire.

Sunny Ridge was the main threat with a closing bid on the outside in the stretch of the one-turn-mile stakes, but the Chad Brown trainee turned him a way to win by a length in a final time of 1:34.16. Timeline, who broke through the gate before the race started, closed from sixth to complete the trifecta.

Gaffalione said after the race his strategy depended on how even-money favorite Battle of Midway started.

"I just wanted to play the break and see where (Battle of Midway) broke," the rider said. "If we broke in front of him, I would definitely take advantage of it. He broke real alertly and took me to the lead pretty comfortably."

Patternrecognition, who won an optional-claiming allowance race last time out Aug. 11 at Saratoga Race Course, set fractions of :23.77, :46.83, and 1:10.32 through six furlongs with little pressure. Battle of Midway, the 2017 Las Vegas Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner, stalked the pace in third and was in between horses in the turn and stretch, but came in a nonthreatening fifth, 2 1/2 lengths behind the winner.

"You can see from his past races he's always been a fighter," Gaffalione said. "He was in a good rhythm on the turn for home, and those horses didn't really come to him. When I asked him for run, he definitely responded. He likes a challenge and you can see that in his most recent race at Saratoga."

Bred in Florida by Ocala Stud, out of the High Cotton mare Almost a Valentine, Patternrecognition now has four wins and five seconds from 10 starts and $379,200 in earnings. He was a $420,000 purchase out of the 2015 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. He won his debut at Aqueduct Racetrack in April of 2017, then finished second in four straight first-level allowance races on the New York Racing Association circuit before he graduated from the condition by 6 1/4 lengths in November back at Aqueduct.

"He's a horse who has run so good in all of his races, he's just run into such good horses, so we figured eventually he'd find one and fight through it," said Brown's assistant, Whit Beckman.