Valid Point Soars to Secretariat Score
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Photo: Coady Photography
Valid Point wins the Secretariat Stakes at Arlington International Racecourse
Making just his third start for Bob Edwards' e Five Racing Thoroughbreds and Mike Ryan, Valid Point stepped from allowance company to the sport's top level Aug. 10, and remained undefeated with an impressive victory in the $500,000 Secretariat Stakes (G1T) at Arlington International Racecourse.
The 3-year-old son of Scat Daddy rated far back under Javier Castellano as The Last Zip set fractions of :24.14 and :47.68, then circled the field and hit another gear inside the final sixteenth, blowing past Van Beethoven to win the mile test for sophomores by a length.
"Thanks to Mike Ryan and Bob Edwards," trainer Chad Brown said. "The horse got hurt at 2 and we couldn't run him, but they gave him back to me in excellent shape."
Valid Point won a Feb. 10 maiden special weight going a mile on the turf at Gulfstream Park, then took a June 7 allowance optional claimer going the same distance at Belmont Park before achieving his grade 1 score.
"I really like the way he felt today," Castellano said. "I let the horse be himself and relax going into the first turn and get into a nice rhythm. The way he finished was impressive to me. When I picked him up he responded right away and I think he's going to be a really nice horse."
The Aidan O'Brien-trained Van Beethoven, also by Scat Daddy, put in a solid runner-up effort in his first start in North America,
"He ran well," jockey Wayne Lordan said of Van Beethoven. "I would have liked to have ridden him a bit more forward, but we got away a little bit slow. We ran a very good race."
The Last Zip rounded out the trifecta three-quarters of a length back in third.
Bred in Kentucky by Westwind Farms out of the Buddha mare Goldbud, Valid Point was a $140,000 purchase by Holly Springs Stable from Blandford Stud's consignment to the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. After producing Valid Point, her fifth foal, Goldbud was barren in 2017, produced an Orb filly in 2018, foaled a daughter of Connect in 2019, and was bred back to Connect for 2020.
Video: Secretariat S. (G1T)