Coal Front wires field in G2 Amsterdam

by Najja Thompson

Making only his third career start and graded stakes debut, Robert LaPenta and Head of Plains Partners' Coal Front remained unbeaten, besting a field of six in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Amsterdam for 3-year-old sprinters at Saratoga Race Course.

Breaking from post 2 as the 3-5 post time favorite with Hall of Famer John Velazquez aboard, Coal Front was sent to the front as Mo Cash pressured the leader to his outside. Setting fractions of 22.37 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 45.90 for the half. Coal Front began to separate himself from the field at the top of the stretch. A late-charging Excitations moved toward the rail and briefly threatened to catch the leader at the sixteenth-pole, before Coal Front was set down again to secure the victory by 1 ½ lengths.

He completed the 6 ½-furlong distance in 1:16.05 on a fast main track.

"It really worked out good," said Velazquez, who picked up his fourth victory of the day with the win. "We liked the post position and we wanted to get into position anyway. He broke really well. He settled really well where he was. It was pretty easy, really. He was playing around a little, and once I got serious with him, as soon as I let him know he needed to run, he responded right away."

Returning $3.20 for a $2 win wager, the son of Stay Thirsty improved his record to a perfect 3-for-3 while boosting his career earnings to $216,000. 

"We weren't committed to the lead, the thing we were focused on was letting him break and kind of find his rhythm," said winning trainer Todd Pletcher, who also recorded his fourth victory on the day and third with Velazquez. "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."

"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. We've done a lot of work with him with the gate crew, and they've done a great job with him. He loaded up really well today, which he did not do last time [an allowance race on June 8 at Belmont]. He acted really professionally during the race. He kind of pricked his ears coming to the wire which is hard to do when they run that fast." 

Pletcher said Coal Front will be considered for the Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on August 26 at seven furlongs.

"We'll see how he comes out of it," added Pletcher. "He's a horse with a strong pedigree and enough talent to stretch out when the time is right."

Following Excitations in second was Singing Bullet, Mo Cash, Toga Challenger and Aquamarine.