<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The long awaited opening salvo of the Empire State Residency\u2019s 2yo series was a resounding success\u2026 especially if your name is Kingab. Here\u2019s a rundown of the four heats that went one mile on the dirt for first time starters in New York on 9\/6\/2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Group A had Kingab\u2019s only morning line favorite INDY\u2019S PISTOL <\/strong>(who shared that designation, in fact) used a stalk and pounce approach from mid-pack to defeat Balata\u2019s KENTUCKY STORM IX <\/strong>by 2 \u00be lengths, after chasing the wicked fractions set by Ace\u2019s STG BARELY GREY. <\/strong>Beisbol\u2019s 61-1 Turkish-bred EXPIRED COUPON <\/strong>passed a lot of tired horses and snuck up for the show money. The winner by Gun Runner<\/strong> earned a solid 88 Speed Figure and looks to be super dangerous in the next round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Group B was the heat we predicted would have a ton of speedballs pushing the pace, and it did not disappoint. Trainer Ace again gunned to the front with STG CAIRO PUNKIN, <\/strong>Beisbol\u2019s CREEPY MIME<\/strong> was in hot (and silent?) pursuit. Both were overtaken by the stalking INTO BEASTMODE, <\/strong>and indeed Tisjuliet\u2019s Into Mischief colt led into the stretch but could not hold off the late charge of SOCIAL DILEMMA. <\/strong>The Nyquist<\/strong> scratch-bred from the Trotter barn was 13th<\/sup> at the second call but a no-doubt winner going away late, scorching a 91 Speed Figure while opening up by 2 \u00bd lengths. Kingab\u2019s SECRET IN FLIGHT <\/strong>came from all the way back in last to edge fellow closer GRIM INSIGHT<\/strong> in the show photo. Two runners, two trifecta placings for Kingab so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Group C on paper looked like it had more horses who would excel with more time and more ground to cover, and true to form the contested pace was set by long-distance guru Lgbost and his Medaglia D\u2019Oro colt GOLD MEDAL GUVNOR. TAP TO THAT TUNE <\/strong>did not give him any breathing room and once they hit the 3\/8 pole it was a foregone conclusion. The Tapit <\/strong>continued to increase his winning margin of 4 \u00bc lengths through the wire, stopping the timer with a high 92 Speed Figure. PASCAL PASSED OUT <\/strong>passed the other pace horses to earn second in a race where nobody but the winner made up ground from the half to the finish. Beisbol saddled the horse but he\u2019s a Robscoobi breeding success! Desertdog\u2019s RHYDONIUM BURN<\/strong> ran a sneaky-good third chasing the winner all the way around. Kingab\u2019s domination is looking more like a feature than a bug at this stage of the contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Group D offered a little more hope for the rest of the ESR crowd as there were 10 horses with morning line odds of 11-1 or less, and 7 of them in the single digits, signifying an evenly matched field. Valesa\u2019s ASHES AND BLOOD <\/strong>was the best of the early speed horses, putting away a trio of challengers at the three-eights pole and began to draw away impressively from the field, opening up by 2 with less than a furlong to go. But this is ESR and that heavy-breathing you heard from the back of the pack (no, it wasn\u2019t Donny in a hooded sweatshirt in the bushes) was none other than jockey S Hommell riding A CRY OF MISCHIEF. <\/strong>The third Kingab winner on the card sizzled past the others like they were standing still after being 13th<\/sup> by 8 \u00be at the half, and was still 6 lengths back in mid-stretch but won going away by a length and a quarter. The Into Mischief\u2019s<\/strong> 84 Speed Figure was the lowest of the day but made sense being the 4th<\/sup> option of the contest. ASHES AND BLOOD <\/strong>held for a valiant second, and Beisbol\u2019s MUTOMBO\u2019S WAG <\/strong>was a non-threatening third. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Winning trainers: Kingab, Trotter, Kingab, Kingab<\/p>\n\n\n\n Winning sires: Gun Runner, Nyquist, Tapit, Into Mischief<\/p>\n\n\n\n Winning odds: 6.29-1 (co-favorite), 8.48-1 (3rd<\/sup> choice), 11.10-1 (8th<\/sup> choice), 9.08-1(5th<\/sup>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Soothing TV commercial voiceover)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you been thoroughly beaten down in a Derbyfever residency race? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Having nightmares of Kingab horses trampling you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can\u2019t get obnoxious Donny comments out of your head?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well now you don\u2019t need to worry any longer! If you runners finished 2nd<\/sup> through 7th<\/sup> in the first week, you may qualify for the consolation races, Round 2 on October 18th<\/sup>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Best of all, you may only have to face a Kingab horse once. Side effects include chronic losing, screaming at computer monitors, cursing about Buckeyes, BP deficiency syndrome, acute credititis, and lease mare mania. Good luck!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The long awaited opening salvo of the Empire State Residency\u2019s 2yo series was a resounding success\u2026 especially if your name<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"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":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72054","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\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72054"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72061,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72054\/revisions\/72061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}