Exciting More Than Ready colt
VERRANZANO laid down the gauntlet to Wise Dan for USA Horse of the Year honours with a dazzling victory in the G1 Haskell Invitational (1800m) at Monmouth Park on Sunday.
Both Vinery Stud who stands More Than Ready and Coolmore Stud who part own Verranzano, were obviously delighted with the result. Coolmore Studs Colm Santry tweeted
“VERRANZANO by More Than Ready blows away the competition winning the Gr1 Haskell Invitational by 9 #incredible performance 3lookstherealdealforAustralia”
Verrazano (3c More Than Ready – Enchanted Rock by Giant’s Causeway) sat outside Gr1 Preakness Stakes winner Oxbow in the early stages and then spread-eagled the field by almost to 10 lengths in the straight.
"He made a big statement today," his trainer Todd Pletcher said. "We’ve always had a lot of confidence in this horse. He's very special."
Verrazano will now head to the G1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga on August 24 where he will take on Triple Crown winners Orb (Kentucky Derby), Oxbow (Preakness Stakes) and Palace Malice (Belmont Stakes). Pletcher also prepared More Than Ready to a Gr1 victory in the 2000 King’s Bishop Stakes at Saratoga.
Verrazano and Orb are the only three year-olds to win two Group 1 races this year. The More Than Ready colt won the Gr1 Wood Memorial before an unplaced effort in the Kentucky Derby. The Run for the Roses has been his only loss in 7 starts since a winning debut in Florida on January 1.
Winning jockey John Velazquez claimed Pletcher’s colt made him look good. "He was awesome today," Velazquez said. "He did it real easy. I knew I had a lot of horse left. When I asked him to go down the stretch, he did it."
The Horse of the Year battle will hot up at Saratoga next month. Reigning champion Wise Dan will return to action in the Gr2 Fourstardave Handicap on August 10, a fortnight before the Travers Stakes.
The Haskell victory will make the rest of the year very interesting. "It will be a sprint to see who’s Horse of the Year, I think we’re squarely within that picture.”
MORE THAN READY
Champion sire More Than Ready returns to Vinery Stud next month for his next southern book in Australia. He will stand for a $99,000 (inc GST) service fee.
MORE THAN READY has now sired 1,080 Individual Winners including 117 Stakes Winners and 99 Stakes Placed runners.
More Than Ready x Langness Filly purchased at Easter by Dynamic Syndications
Dynamic Syndications purchased a magnificent filly at Easter by the Champion Sire
MORE THAN READY from the 2yo Stakes Winning Danehill Mare
LANGNESS and she will be trained by
PETER MOODY – She will become available in a few weeks time.