Romeo one to watch in G1 Spendthrift Farm Hopeful
Tagermeen Racing’s Romeo is one to keep an eye on as he makes his first effort for new connections in Closing Day Monday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Spendthrift Farm Hopeful, a seven-furlong sprint for juveniles, at Saratoga Race Course.
The Honor A.P. dark bay captured the six-furlong Listed Bashford Manor last out on June 29 at Churchill Downs for conditioner John “Jerry” Robb. Romeo subsequently sold to Mahmud Mouni for $1.7 million at Fasig-Tipton's July Horses of Racing Age Sale and transferred to Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen’s care with an eye towards this race.
In the Bashford Manor, Romeo set the pace en route to a driving 3 3/4-length victory in a stakes record time of 1:08.61 over the fast footing, registering a career and field-best 85 Beyer Speed Figure.
“He’s coming off of a win in the Bashford Manor where he won in stakes record time. He has trained very nicely since he’s been up here,” Asmussen said.
Romeo improved from a third in the Listed Tremont in June here to subsequent graded-stakes winning filly Mythical, a top contender in the local Grade 1 Spinaway on Saturday.
Romeo [post 3, Joel Rosario] dominated his debut by 10 1/4 lengths sprinting 4 1/2 furlongs on May 3 at Laurel Park. He is out of the Not For Love mare Fancy Love and his second dam Fleet and Fancy is a half-sister to 2008 Champion 2-Year-Old Colt Midshipman and Grade 2-winner Fast Cookie, the dam of multiple Grade 1-victor Frosted.
Asmussen also entered St. Elias Stable’s Soldier N Diplomat [post 6, Irad Ortiz, Jr.], who sat just off the top pair in his six-furlong debut on July 26 here before rallying to victory while bumping with Accost in the lane but keeping his neck in front.
The son of the St. Elias-campaigned Grade 1 Carter Handicap-winner Army Mule was a $950,000 purchase at the 2025 OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. He is out of the Violence mare Diplomatic Miss, a daughter of multiple Grade 1-placed Miraculous Miss.
“I thought his first race was solid, but he’ll need to do more, and I think there is more in there,” said Asmussen, who won this race from 2019-21, with Basin, Jackie’s Warrior and Gunite.
Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher has entered Ted Noffey [post 8, John Velazquez] and Emphasis [post 7, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] off local debut wins earlier in the meet. Both contenders look to provide the race’s sponsor Spendthrift Farm with a Hopeful win.
In recent years, the Hopeful was won by current Spendthrift Farm stallions Basin [2019], Jackie’s Warrior [2020], who went on to be named 2021 Champion Male Sprinter, and Forte [2022], who took honors that same year as Champion 2-Year-Old Colt.
Ted Noffey got some laughs on debut as his name was inspired by a misspelling of Ned Toffey, general manager of his owner Spendthrift Farm, but the colt’s performance was nothing to joke around about when winning a 6 1/2-furlong maiden on August 2 here.
The Into Mischief gray, with Hall of Famer John Velazquez up, stalked from the four-path through a half-mile in 46.35 seconds on the fast main track, taking the lead under a drive in upper stretch and holding off Criteria by 1 1/2 lengths under steady urging in a final time of 1:17.56.
“I thought that was a good effort,” Pletcher said. “This horse had trained very well leading into it. It seemed like he did everything you would hope he would. He will need to make another move forward, but he’s trained well since then and we’ve been pointing for the Hopeful since he broke his maiden.”
Ted Noffey was a $650,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale out of the dual graded stakes-placed Old Fashioned mare Streak of Luck. Pletcher has won the Hopeful with Circular Quay [2006], Shanghai Bobby [2012], Competitive Edge [2014] and Forte [2022].
Repole Stable and Spendthrift Farms’s Emphasis wired his six-furlong debut on July 19 here. The Yaupon dark bay edged Growth Equity by one length with confident handling from Ricardo Santana, Jr., in a final time of 1:11.83, and the heavily favored Asmussen-trainee Stradale finished third after a rough start.
“He is a horse that has natural speed,” Pletcher said. “I don’t see any reason he couldn’t carry it out to seven furlongs.”
Emphasis, a $625,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, is a half-brother to Grade 3-winner Curly Jack out of the Grade 1-placed Roman Ruler mare Connie and Michael, a half-sister to graded-winners High Ridge Road and Senor Rojo.
West Point Thoroughbreds’ Curtain Call [post 1, Jose Ortiz] has a fitting name to run in the final Grade 1 of the meet and his last performance suggests he is a leading contender as well. Trained by dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse, the Tiz the Law dark bay graduated by 8 1/2 lengths after slightly stumbling at the break sprinting six furlongs over sloppy and sealed footing on July 12 here.
The performance earned a career-best 82 Beyer and avenged a 7 1/2-length debut second in June at Churchill Downs to the Asmussen-trained Obliteration.
"I'm really excited about him,” Casse said. “For me, every indication is that he could be a really nice horse. I was a little disappointed in his first start at Churchill, but he came back and won impressively. Since then, he's trained like he's a nice horse, so we go into the Hopeful with high expectations.”
Obliteration subsequently dominated the local Grade 3 Sanford and finished second to the Casse-conditioned Ewing in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special.
"Ewing is already a graded winner here at Saratoga. I want to take Ewing to the Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland just to see if he'll go two turns,” said Casse. “Both horses, if they continue to progress and go forward, are Breeders' Cup type horses so that's always on my mind.”
Curtain Call, a $325,000 purchase at the OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, is out of the Into Mischief mare Deep Trouble.
"So many of our horses improve in their second start and he did,” Casse said. “I think he'll like a little more ground as well. He's just a class act."
Zedan Racing Stables’ Buetane [post 5, Flavien Prat] is another son of Tiz the Law to watch as he makes his second start for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. The chestnut ships in from Del Mar where he stalked to win his six-furlong debut on August 3 by 3 1/2 lengths, earning an 83 Beyer.
Buetane, a $1.15 million purchase at the 2025 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, is a half-brother to stakes-winner Let My People Go out of the winning Forestry mare Taboo. His second dam is Grade 1-winning millionaire Dream of Summer, dam of Grade 1-winners Creative Cause, Vexatious and Grade 2-winner Destin.
Rounding out the field are Aye Eye [post 4, Javier Castellano], who weaved through traffic from 19 lengths back in last-of-8 to win his restricted six-furlong maiden debut on August 8 here for trainer Joe Orseno, and is cross-entered in Saturday’s Sapling at Monmouth Park; and dominant second-out winner Flyin Hawaiian [post 2, Luis Saez] for conditioner Butch Reid, Jr.
The Hopeful is slated as Race 9 on Monday’s 11-race card, which also features the restricted Listed $135,000 Saranac in Race 10. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern.
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