Rhetorical is asked the question in $150K West Point presented by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital
Gary Barber, Cheyenne Stable and Wachtel Stable’s Rhetorical will make his stakes debut in Sunday’s $150,000 West Point presented by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, a 1 1/16-mile Mellon turf test for New York-bred 3-year-olds and up, at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Will Walden, the 4-year-old Not This Time dark bay is 2-for-2 this year, and both wins have come in convincing fashion traveling 1 1/16 miles on turf. The first of those scores was by five lengths in a state-bred allowance in May at Belmont at the Big A, earning a career-best 90 Beyer Speed Figure in victory.
Rhetorical [post 6, Irad Ortiz, Jr.] validated that performance with a 2 1/2-length open optional claiming score last out on July 19 here. He traveled within a half-length of the early lead, built a 5 1/2-length advantage by the stretch call and held off Activist Investing while geared down, registering the same 90 Beyer.
“It’s his first try in stakes company, but as far as how he’s doing, we just stay out of his way,” Walden said. “He’s a good-training horse, a good-feeling horse, we spaced out his races enough and are happy with how he is coming into this.”
The gelding debuted as a sophomore last July here and defeated elder state-breds by five lengths going one mile. Rhetorical next landed a local three-quarter-length third from last-of-11 after a troubled beginning going 1 1/16 miles one month later – representing the only blemish among his 3-for-4 record.
“He was super-green then, got worked up in the paddock; second time out, everything that could go wrong, went wrong,” said Walden. “He got too amped up, too hot in the post parade, missed the break, was rank, and still only got beat narrowly. He was last turning for home and that is not his style. He has tactical speed and usually finds his way up near the lead.”
The lightly-raced Rhetorical will now be asked the question of stakes company.
“We let him grow up mentally because, as a 3-year-old, he was acting like a 2-year-old because that was all the experience he had,” Walden said. “He’s done nothing wrong this year. We’ve even had to skip a couple of conditions to get him out on the track.”
Bred by Mallory Mort and Karen Mort, Rhetorical, a $320,000 purchase at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton New York-bred Preferred Yearling Sale out of the Distorted Humor mare Sheet Humor, is a half-brother to New York-bred millionaire Sterling Silver, who is multiple graded stakes placed.
“I was around Distorted Humor a lot as a child because my dad [Elliott Walden] trained him. Then, towards his latter years as a stallion, I was the guy who got on the stallions at WinStar Farm and rode him,” Walden said. “There’s a lot of Distorted Humor in this horse, but combined with a lot of the raw ability that Not This Time seems to pass on to his progeny.”
Gary Barber, Pantofel Stable and Wachtel Stable’s Clear Conscience [post 2, Jose Ortiz] won the 1 1/16-mile state-bred Kingston on June 4 here by a nose over Hush of a Storm. Trained by dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse, the 5-year-old Blame gelding exited to run a distant sixth to Rhetorical in the open optional claimer on July 19.
In the Kingston, Clear Conscience traveled four lengths back early and came with a wide bid to pass prominent returning foe Itsallcomintogetha while holding off Hush of a Storm narrowly. The victory earned a career-best 91 Beyer, improving from an 88 in his seasonal debut when defeated a nose by Be of Courage going 1 1/16 miles in May at Belmont at the Big A.
Bred by Alan Quartucci and Sebastian Varney, Clear Conscience is out of the winning Gio Ponti mare Blank Slate and his second dam is dual Grade 3-placed Tarrip. He boasts a 16-3-4-2 record with $298,438 in earnings.
John Witte and Morris Kernan’s Conman [post 5, Manny Franco] will look to win first off the claim for trainer Ilkay Kantarmaci. The 5-year-old Constitution gelding made 17 starts for Casse, including a win in the 2023 Hamilton at Woodbine Racetrack, before being haltered for $45,000 out of a local state-bred optional claiming win on August 10.
In his last out victory, Conman traveled forwardly going nine furlongs, took the lead by the three-sixteenths while holding off the slow-starting Slapintheface by two lengths. The performance earned an 86 Beyer, and was his first win since the 7 1/2-furlong Hamilton, but he did start in open company six times after that effort.
Bred by Fred W. Hertrich, III and John D. Fielding, Conman, out of the winning Medaglia d’Oro mare Rare Medal, was originally a $300,000 purchase at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton New York-bred Preferred Yearling Sale.
Rounding out the field are local turf stakes-winner Itsallcomintogetha [post 4, Luis Saez] for trainer Lisa Bartkowski; three-time winner Bettrluckythangood [post 3, Dylan Davis] for trainer Miguel Clement; and two-time winner Gem Mint Ten [post 1, Romero Maragh] for conditioner Ray Handal.
Sheriff Bianco, Bank Frenzy, Drake’s Passage, Dr. Kraft, Locke and Key, Cut the Cord and Leftembehind are entered for the main track-only.
The West Point is slated as Race 8 on Sunday’s 10-race card. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
The $150,000 Funny Cide presented by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, which was scheduled for Sunday, did not fill and will be brought back on the overnight for Wednesday.
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