Caught behind horses with less than 300 yards to
go, favored Union Rags abruptly changed course in mid-stretch and went on to an
imposing 5 ¼-length victory in Saturday afternoon’s 140th
running of the Grade 1, $300,000 Champagne at Belmont Park.
The Champagne victory, Union
Rags’ third in as many starts, earned the 2-year-old bay son of Dixie
Union an automatic berth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at
Churchill Downs on November 5 as part of the “Win and You’re
In” series. Last year, Uncle Mo won the Champagne before taking the
Juvenile and the Eclipse Award as Champion 2-Year-Old Champion Male.
With Javier Castellano aboard, Union Rags was bumped at the break and
had to settle in fifth behind Right to Vote and Power World as they took the field
of eight juveniles through an opening quarter-mile in 22.74 seconds and a half
in 45.84. With nowhere to go as they headed for home, Castellano first tried to
steer Union Rags between horses, but then angled the 6-5 favorite sharply to
the outside. Once clear, the big colt took off with a rousing late run that carried
him under the wire in 1:35.55 for the mile.
“My plan ‘A’ was to be close to the pace,” said
Castellano. “Unfortunately in the first jump [Right to Vote] squeezed me.
He bumped really hard and I lost the momentum right there. Now, I had to change
to plan ‘B’ – come from behind horses. But he’s an
amazing horse – nothing bothers him. When he saw daylight, he took
off.”
Alpha, the 2-1 second choice, closed from last to gain second, a neck ahead
of longshot Right to Vote.
“I was happy with the way he ran in only his second start,”
said Kiaran McLaughlin, trainer of the runner-up. “He finished second to
a very nice horse. We’ll go onto the Breeders’ Cup with him.”
Union Rags, owned and bred by Phyllis Wyeth’s Chadds Ford Stable,
began his career at Delaware
Park in July, rallying
from seventh to post a 1 ¾-length victory in a five-furlong maiden race. In his
next start, he rolled to a 7 ¼-length win the Grade 2 Three Chimneys Saratoga
Special going 6 ½ furlongs over a sloppy track on August 15.
In the Champagne,
Union Rags returned $4.40 for a $2 win bet, and the $180,000 winner’s
purse extended his bankroll to $498,000.
“I think he’s a real good horse,” said trainer
Michael Matz, who won the 2006 Kentucky Derby with Barbaro. “Anytime you
can win going five-eighths with me, you know they’re nice horses.
I’ve had horses on and off for Mrs. Wyeth, and she said to me,
‘I’m going to have a good one for you,’ and I think she
does.”
Takes the Gold finished fourth, followed by Invocation, No Spin, Power
World, and Laurie’s Rocket.
Photo: NYRA, Adam Coglianese