Salutos Amigos Best in 'Ruler, Eyes BC Sprint
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By Jerry Bossert
The Xpressbet Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) field size appears to have grown by one after Salutos Amigos launched a powerful rally down the center of the track to take the $200,000 Bold Ruler Handicap (gr. III) Oct. 25 from Belmont Park by 3 1/4 lengths .
After the race, trainer David Jacobson indicated he wanted to wheel back the 4-year-old gelding in the $1.5 million Sprint at Santa Anita Park Nov. 1. Salutos Amigos was pre-entered in the race Oct. 22 and final entries for the Breeders' Cup Sprint will be taken Monday, Oct. 27.
"His performance was spectacular," Jacobson said of the seven-furlong Bold Ruler result. "I think we made the right move staying home. Now we're going to make some phone calls and see if we can go to the Breeders' Cup. I don't know if it's still an option, but if it is, we're going to be on a plane Monday to go to California. I was just waiting for a spectacular performance, and we got it."
Breeders' Cup officials notified Jacobson that Salutos Amigos could start and the owners—Jacobson and Southern Equine Stable—would just have to put up the $30,000 total entry fee to start.
With even-money favorite River Rocks blazing away on the front end through fractions of :22.94 and :45.99 over a good Belmont main track, jockey Cornelio Velasquez swung Salutos Amigos into the middle of the track. The son of Salute the Sarge rallied down the lane to prevail easily over Confrontation, who had taken the lead from River Rocks near the furlong mark.
Confrontation finished a neck in front of Romansh for second. The seven furlongs went in 1:21.87.
River Rocks weakened in the stretch to finish fourth, while Cease, Sage Valley, and Joe Tess completed the order of finish.
After breaking alertly, Salutos Amigos was shuffled back in the pack and was forced to make his winning run while six-wide.
"He had a lot of trouble," Jacobson said. "There were some real nice horses in here, and they had him blocked in, so Cornelio had to go very wide. With this kind of performance, and knowing the way I trained him into the race, he's going to be ready to run next Saturday."
In his previous start, Salutos Amigos finished fourth, beaten just two lengths, in the Vosburgh Stakes (gr. I) from Belmont Park Sept. 27.
The Kentucky-bred has now won five of 22 career starts with the Bold Ruler being his first graded stakes win. He has banked $447,406. The 4-year-old bay gelding has posted four of his wins this year from 11 starts.
Salutos Amigos was bred by Joan Hadley Thoroughbreds out of the five-time winning Argentine dam Sarasota, by Luhuk. He previously was trained by Eric Guillot.
"I broke good and stayed in good position," Velasquez said. "I stayed behind the speed and I waited, waited, waited. At the three-sixteenths pole, I had a chance to put him into gear, and I had a lot of horse. He won easy today."
Carrying 117 pounds, Salutos Amigos returned $9.10 to win, $5.30 to place and $3.80 to show as the second choice in the field of seven. Confrontation returned $7.80 to place and $5.50 to show, while Romansh paid $4.10 to show.