Category: Miscellaneous

Defiant Honor, the beaten favorite in the GIII Lake George S. on opening day, made amends with a stalk-and-pounce score in the Riskaverse S. Thursday at Saratoga.

A second-out winner last fall at Belmont, the bay shipped across the country to be runner-up in the GIII Jimmy Durante S. Nov. 26 before capturing an allowance in her sophomore debut June 21 back at Big Sandy. Fading to sixth after tracking the pace in the Lake George, Defiant Honor was made the distant second chance in this feature and broke sharply before allowing favored ‘TDN Rising Star’ Cherry Lodge (Bernardini) to sprint clear through a :23.67 quarter. That one was able to slow things down past a :49.15 half, but had a tenuous lead at the top of the lane. Defiant Honor was the first to attack, quickly taking charge from the pacesetter at the three-sixteenths pole, and she kicked clear into the final furlong before holding sway late from Fizzy Friday (GB).

“I think she’s a quality filly and things went well for her today,” said winning trainer Jimmy Toner. “She had had a myectomy, where they cut the muscles in the throat because, with the displacement of the soft pallet, it cuts off the wind and they can’t breathe and they panic. But today, you can see the difference. Also, the way the race set up, there was one speed and she didn’t have to be restrained or anything. It was a perfect trip. Everything worked out today. It’s all good.”

The winner is a full-sister to ill-fated Recepta, GSW & MGISP, $696,700 and a half to Taqarub (Aldebaran), GSW, $256,962. Her dam is a half to champion Soaring Softly (Kris S.) and GISW Plenty of Grace (Roberto) out of GSW Wings of Grace (Key to the Mint). Honor Bestowed has a juvenile full-sister to the victress named Honored Promise, a yearling colt by Curlin and foaled a Speightstown colt this season before being paired with Dialed In.

RISKAVERSE S., $100,000, SAR, 8-24, (C), (NW1SRL), 3yo, f, 1mT, 1:35.67, fm.
1–#DEFIANT HONOR, 117, f, 3, by Speightstown
1st Dam: Honor Bestowed, by Honor Grades
2nd Dam: Wings of Grace, by Key to the Mint
3rd Dam: Far Beyond, by Nijinsky II
O-Phillips Racing Partnership & Pam Gartin; B-John W. Phillips
& Hank & Lynn Snowden (KY); T-James J. Toner; J-Jose
Lezcano. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 6-3-1-0, $172,015. *Full to
Recepta, GSW & MGISP, $696,700; 1/2 to Taqarub
(Aldebaran), GSW, $256,962.

“TDN Rising Star” Coal Front kept his perfect record in tact and became the first graded stakes winner for his second-crop sire (by Bernardini) with this stylish front-running score in his stakes debut.

Sent to the front by Johnny Velazquez from his inside draw, the $575,000 OBSAPR buy held a narrow advantage through opening fractions of :22.37 and :45.90. The dark bay kicked for home in control, opened up a three-length lead in the stretch, and was never seriously threatened by Excitations, who rallied nicely from last of six to complete the exacta.

“We weren’t committed to the lead–the thing we were focused on was letting him break and kind of find his rhythm,” winning trainer Todd Pletcher said. “We knew he was fast, but we didn’t want to be in a speed duel, but we didn’t want to take away what is coming easy to him, either. We kind of left it in Johnny’s hands. Johnny said he was very relaxed, really comfortable. A really talented horse.”

Romping by 6 1/2 lengths on debut at Keeneland Apr. 20, Coal Front followed suit with a facile score in a first-level allowance at Belmont June 8. Sol Kumin’s Head of Plains Partners privately purchased a piece of the colt from Robert LaPenta following his last victory.

“It’s hard to win a race, much less the first three, and he beat a pretty strong group of older horses last time, and then to step up into a graded stakes, it just seems like he’s getting better and better,” Pletcher said.

As for what’s next, Pletcher added, “We talked about the [GI] Allen Jerkens [Aug. 26], we’ll see how he comes out of it. He’s a horse with a strong pedigree and enough talent to stretch out, when the time is right.”

Pedigree Notes:

Coal Front’s unraced dam Miner’s Secret, a half-sister to MGSW Woodlander (Forestry), is responsible for a yearling colt by Noble Mission (GB) and foaled a Pioneerof the Nile filly Feb. 28. She was bred back to Triple Crown hero American Pharoah.

Miner’s Secret went through the ring twice, bringing $250,000 from Reynolds Bell Jr., agent, at the 2006 KEESEP Yearling Sale and $52,000 from Coal Front’s breeder Michael Connelly in foal to War Pass at the 2009 KEENOV sale.