{"id":2826,"date":"2006-08-28T18:05:46","date_gmt":"2006-08-28T18:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=2826"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"oldbtb_2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=2826","title":{"rendered":"Cream Of The Crop: New Found Cyclone tops Ermington Pegusus, Virtuoso in Travelers(G1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York<\/STRONG>–\u00a0 The cream\u00a0indisputedly rose to the top in last week’s Grade 1 $1,000,000 Travelers Stakes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/EM>The pre-race hoopla<\/A> argued on behalf of a deep and quality-filled group of sophomore colts — one that mixed both old and new faces — gathering together for the 8th running of the Sim’s Midsummer Derby.\u00a0 <\/DIV>
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But, as always, the horses did the truest talking — with only two lengths seperating them at the wire, the *three* best Triple Crown horses New Found Cyclone, Ermington Pegusus<\/STRONG> and Virtuoso<\/STRONG>\u00a0simply swept the board\u00a0in definitive style.\u00a0 The trio passed the Travelers’ “Golden Hour” test — in the make or break world<\/EM> of Sim History, this year’s springtime 3YOs are\u00a0makin’ the grade, transforming into summertime stars…………<\/DIV>
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Climb Aboard The Cyclone Train<\/FONT><\/STRONG>\u00a0<\/DIV>
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Winner New Found Cyclone sure made this reporter a believer.\u00a0 The Middle Jewel(G1)<\/EM> hero followed up his Triple Crown campaign with a\u00a0masterful Princess Cup(G1)<\/EM> victory, but then cast some doubt\u00a0with two straight losses.<\/DIV>
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In hindsight though, perhaps I overplayed them — New Found Cyclone ran a credible albeit even-steven 4th to Divine Inspiration<\/STRONG> in the Swamps(G1)<\/EM>.\u00a0 He then followed it up with a hard\u00a03rd in the Haskell(G1)<\/EM>, a weaker field which I thought he should have won on class.\u00a0\u00a0‘Cyclone did not crack the 100 SP# barrier in both efforts, and thus, on paper, he looked like a tired horse in need of a 6-week or more breather.\u00a0 <\/DIV>
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But trainer Ydrracing knows his stuff.\u00a0 New Found Cyclone settled into perfect position a few lengths behind pacesetter Divine Inspiration.\u00a0\u00a0 Lbgong’s longshot Gran Hope<\/STRONG> and Vegasjef’s recent graded winner Test Big Mac(AUS) <\/STRONG>applied decent pressure to win’s Divine Inspiration who shook away from those longshot challengers by the half-mile marker.\u00a0\u00a0<\/DIV>
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‘Cyclone trailed this three-way duel until about the 7\/8ths-pole.\u00a0 Full of run, the chestnut son of Storm Cat stallion Newfoundland swung up to Divine Inspiration at the top of the stretch, dispatching the tiring pacesetter in hand.\u00a0 ‘Cyclone proceeded to lag a bit, ears pricked, looking for more foes.\u00a0\u00a0Jockey Benito Child didn’t let the colt lollygag for long, shaking the whip at him in preparation for the late-closers.\u00a0 <\/DIV>
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And the closers came too — Bluegrass Derby<\/EM> runner-up Ermington Pegusus disapproved any “bounce” fears after his dangerously swift It’s My Birthday(G1)<\/EM> score.\u00a0\u00a0 The Sky Mesa colt absolutely flew down the lane\u00a0like a terror, with the dark grey hide of\u00a0Derby<\/EM> champion Virtuoso not far behind in tow.<\/DIV>
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The pair made a show of it, but New Found Cyclone had the position and plenty of\u00a0fight left.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0‘Cyclone and jockey Child crossed the line in 2:01 flat <\/STRONG>for the 1 1\/4 miles.\u00a0 The photo showed pigeon3’s Ermington Pegusus short by 3\/4 length with super7’s Virtuoso a length or so trailing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/DIV>
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Both New Found Cyclone and ‘Pegusus scored a 108 SP#<\/STRONG> over Virtuoso with a 106.\u00a0 The final time tied Macho Niner’s 2005 mark for the 3rd\u00a0fastest\u00a0Travelers ever and was just 2\/5 of a second slower than I Seek U and Granhee’s tie for the stakes record (2:00 2\/5).<\/DIV>
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No doubt about it — this was an awesome comeback by a top-flight colt.\u00a0 And a great training job by Ydrracing (ydrbargains).\u00a0 He got his ‘Cyclone in picture-perfect form for the big day.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/DIV>
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The win put New Found Cyclone all alone on top of the 3YO Dirt Classic colt rankings.\u00a0 It’s still a close race though for 3YO honors with Virtuoso only 30-some points back and Ermington Pegusus\u00a0behind by 70.\u00a0 <\/DIV>
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‘Cyclone pushed his earnings up over the $2-million\u00a0mark, recording his 8th career victory from 17 outings.\u00a0<\/DIV>
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2006 Travelers Race Notes<\/FONT><\/STRONG><\/DIV>
  • Aside from my being way off the mark about New Found Cyclone (LOL), I also thought 11th-place finisher Intergalactic <\/STRONG>would’ve run his race.\u00a0\u00a0 No going though for eddie72’s promising Aptitude colt — puzzling effort, but he’ll be back.\u00a0<\/LI>
  • One thing I did predict correctly (not that it was by any means a difficult “crystal-ball moment” — Ha!) was Virtuoso hitting the board in a great race.\u00a0 The Derby winner by Cryptoclearance made up a heckuva lot of ground.\u00a0 Couldn’t gain totally nearing the wire, but, still, a solid effort.\u00a0 Prime spot to be in\u00a0going forward to the older horse handicaps or LA Derby versus sophomores.\u00a0 <\/LI>
  • Swamps(G1)<\/EM> winner Divine Inspiration (who was\u00a02-for-2 in routes going into\u00a0Saturday’s race) ran big for the 10f.\u00a0 The Pulpit son has a speedy female family\u00a0(Phone Trick x Storm Cat) and, in all fairness, this was kind of a litmus test for him in his first attempt beyond 9f.\u00a0\u00a0Great race to finish 4th, only 3 1\/2 lengths behind\u00a0New Found Cyclone.\u00a0\u00a0 We might see trainer Win\u00a0give these top colts\u00a0another go at the classic distance.<\/LI>
  • Zoomr’s Captain Hook(G2)<\/EM> winner Al Hirt<\/STRONG> grabbed the final money position in 5th.\u00a0\u00a0The Dixieland Band son ran evenly from midpack.\u00a0\u00a0<\/LI>
  • Test Big Mac(AUS) (who\u00a0surprised in\u00a0the Colorado Sophomore\u00a0Classic(G3)<\/EM>) ran about as expected, beaten near 8 lengths in 6th place.\u00a0 Vegasjef’s Testa Rossa(AUS) son was stepping in class.<\/LI>
  • Globogym <\/STRONG>(12th) threw a clinker after such a wonderful race, upsetting Virtuoso in the Clerk Of Scales(G2)<\/EM>.\u00a0\u00a0 Had to be very disappointing for trainer Vsmdinc2, but we’ll see the Pleasantly Perfect colt again —\u00a0it was only his 11th career start and he’s yet to break the 100 SP# barrier.\u00a0 <\/LI>
  • Finally, oaklawn66 has to regroup with Wooden Indian(G2)<\/EM> winner\u00a0and fan fave Peacenik <\/STRONG>(8th).\u00a0\u00a0 That’s two clinkers in a row for the little Peace Rules guy\u00a0— maybe some rest and then return to shorter routes?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/LI><\/UL><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Triple Crown rivals pass Golden Hour test<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":396,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}