Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Unmatched Wisdom steps up
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown made it to the Kentucky Derby with Sierra Leone and Domestic Product. Had things gone differently, he might have had a third starter in Unmatched Wisdom.
“I had him ranked as one of my top three two-turn dirt colts that had a chance to get on the [Kentucky Derby] trail,” Brown said. “Pneumonia derailed him. He was out for quite a while.”
There is still time for Unmatched Wisdom to make an impression in the 3-year-old division. After winning his first two starts quite handily – both during the spring at Aqueduct – Unmatched Wisdom makes his stakes debut Friday at Saratoga in the $135,000 Curlin going 1 1/8 miles. The Curlin, for 3-yearolds who have not won a graded stakes at a mile or longer, often produces a starter or two for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes here Aug. 24.
Six days after the Kentucky Derby was run, Unmatched Wisdom, a son of Cairo Prince, won a one-mile maiden race by 6 1/4 lengths over a muddy Aqueduct surface. He came back six weeks later, on June 22, to win a 1 1/8-mile, first-level allowance race by 5 3/4 lengths against a suspect field.
“He hasn’t done anything wrong in his first two starts,” Brown said. “He’s going to have to step up here. There are some nice horses in this race. He’s going to have to continue to develop.”
He also will likely have to use some of his early speed to get position breaking from the rail under Flavien Prat.
Corporate Power, a son of Curlin, is the lone stakes winner in the six-horse field, having won the restricted Sir Barton Stakes by a nose over Gould’s Gold on the Preakness undercard. That was at 1 1/16 miles, but he has a maiden win at 1 1/8 miles that came against Batten Down, winner of the Grade 3 Ohio Derby on June 22.
Corporate Power wore blinkers for the first time in the Sir Barton, in which he raced four wide throughout. Trainer Shug McGaughey felt the blinkers did help Corporate Power focus some, but the horse did lug in during the stretch run of what was ultimately a nose victory.
“I like him better with the blinkers,” McGaughey said. “He still made a couple of mistakes in the race, but he’s trained good since then and a mile and an eighth around two turns is what he wants.”
Regular jockey Javier Castellano rides Corporate Power, the 124-pound highweight, from post 2.
Blinkers also played a role in Timeout winning his maiden race for trainer Bill Mott on June 15 at Aqueduct. Mott said the combination of having had two races, the addition of blinkers, and stretching out in distance all helped Timeout get a neck victory over Military Road. Reynolds Channel, a Mott trainee who finished third to Timeout, came back to win here last Saturday, earning a careerbest 90 Beyer Speed Figure.
Trainer Kenny McPeek sends out Elephants Ear and Django in the Curlin. Elephants Ear pulled off a 47-1 upset in a June 30 allowance race after two sound defeats in that same condition.
Django won his maiden by a head June 15 in his 10th career start.
Catire Vizcaya, a Mid-Atlantic shipper from the barn of Juan Avila, looks like a longshot in this field.
The Curlin is carded as the third race on a 10-race card that begins at 1:10 p.m.