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Forewarned upsets them again in $150K Excelsior

by Ryan Martin

Forewarned shipped in from Parx Racing to notch a game head score and spring yet another upset at Aqueduct Racetrack in Saturday's $150,000 Excelsior, a nine-furlong test for older horses. 

Forewarned, owned and trained by Uriah St. Lewis, was a 42-1 longshot winner of the Queens County on December 19 at the Big A.

The 7-year-old son of Flat Out entered the Excelsior off a narrow defeat in the John B. Campbell on February 19 at Laurel Park, but got his head on the wire first this time, dueling to the inside of Untreated and winning the bob as the 9-2 third choice in the compact field of four.

Forewarned sat third in the early stages as 1-2 favorite First Constitution, who was off a step slow, set easy opening fractions of 24.57 seconds for the quarter-mile and 48.66 for the half-mile with Son of an Ex tracking a close second. Around the far turn, First Constitution was under a drive from Kendrick Carmouche as Forewarned came to even terms with the pacesetter.

As First Constitution began to retreat at the three-sixteenths pole, Forewarned was met with a new challenge as Untreated launched his bid. The two were nip-and-tuck through the final furlong with Untreated briefly holding slight command. But a gutsy Forewarned had enough left in the tank, battling gamely along the rail under Dexter Haddock to win in a final time of 1:50.76 over the fast main track.

Untreated finished another 6 1/2 lengths ahead of fellow Todd Pletcher trainee First Constitution. Son of an Ex completed the order of finish. Splicethemainbrace was scratched.

“When he saw the other horse, he came back,” said Haddock, who also was aboard for his Queens County victory. “He finished strong. I rode him to another stakes win here and I breeze him in the morning. I like the horse.”

St. Lewis said he felt Forewarned should have come out on top in his last start, noting his 102 Beyer Speed Figure from his recent effort.

“He’s a nice horse and has been trying. I thought he should have won and we gave him enough time in between that race and now because he ran February 19 and this is April 2,” St. Lewis said. “Sometimes they bounce when they run that big number. So, we wanted to give him some time and he came back and did it good. He always fights. I saw him and said, ‘Come on big daddy, you’ve got to get it.’ And he got it.”

Forewarned, who returned $11.40, is 0-for-9 against graded stakes company, with his best finish coming with a third in the Grade 3 Westchester in June 2020 at Belmont Park.

St. Lewis said he will consider running Forewarned in the Grade 2, $1 million Oaklawn Handicap on April 23 at Oaklawn Park.

“I think this horse has a lot of ability and not to be too ambitious, we might go to the Oaklawn Handicap,” St. Lewis said. “It’s twenty-something days from now, we’ll monitor him and see how everything is working with him and we might just put him on a truck and take him to Oaklawn. It’s a million bucks and I think he’s doing good.”

Forewarned banked $82,500 in victory while enhancing his lifetime earnings to $870,883 and record to 48-11-8-4. In addition to his recent stakes wins in New York, he also is the three-time defending winner of the Best of Ohio Endurance at Mahoning Valley Race Course in his native Ohio.

Live racing resumes Sunday at the Big A with a nine-race card. First post is 1:20 p.m. Eastern. 

America’s Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the spring meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the winter meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.