Nashua winner gets 101 Beyer

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – If not for a burst water pipe that forced Laurel Park to cancel its Oct. 24 card, we still might not know just how good a colt Independence Hall is.

Independence Hall dominated Sunday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct by 12 1/4 lengths, earning a 101 Beyer Speed Figure that ranks as the best figure achieved by a 2-yearold of any gender in 2019. Yet, the Nashua was Plan B after a first-level allowance on Oct. 24 at Laurel was lost when that card – and subsequently three more – was canceled due to a broken water pipe along the track apron.

Aron Wellman, whose Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners bought into Independence Hall following his maiden victory on Sept. 21 at Parx Racing, said he was trying to take the conservative approach by running him in an allowance before tackling stakes company.

“I guess in all success stories like this there’s a little serendipity and intervention involved,” Wellman said. “Hopefully, this is a story we’ll be telling in six or seven months.”

Wellman, Randy Gullat, and Steve Davison – the principals of Twin Creeks Racing – and Bob and Kathleen Verratti were scheduled to talk this week about future plans for Independence Hall in the wake of his devastatingly easy victory in Sunday’s Nashua.

While the Nashua is typically the prep for the Grade 2 Remsen, a 1 1/8-mile race at Aqueduct on Dec. 7, Wellman said the Nashua performance may force him to wait.

“My gut instinct at this time is he probably ran a little bit bigger than we were expecting him too in all respects,” Wellman said. “Knowing that, we might just have to take a deep breath and a step back from the Remsen. I wouldn’t take it off the table, but I wouldn’t say it’s a definitive target either. We might want to avoid running him back too quick off an effort like that.”

In the Nashua, Independence Hall stalked the longshot pacesetter Spycraft through a halfmile in 45.55 seconds. He poked his head in front at the threeeighths pole before opening up in upper stretch. Independence Hall did come out three paths in the stretch, presumably from one smack of Jose Ortiz’s lefthanded whip.

“Jose said he over-responded to the stick. He hadn’t seen a whole lot of that. He probably was like, ‘Where is that coming from?’ ” Trombetta said. “He seemed to be fine afterward.”

The performance by Independence Hall even took Trombetta a little bit by surprise.

“We were expecting a decent run, but could never have anticipated that,” Trombetta said.

Independence Hall returned to Fair Hill, a training center in Maryland, on Sunday night and was fine Monday morning, Trombetta said.

Wellman said the ultimate goal with Independence Hall is the Kentucky Derby. He and his partners on the horse, as well Trombetta, will get together soon to discuss the best way to get there.

Wellman said Independence Hall impressed him enough in his debut at Parx to pursue buying him and were thankful the Verrattis were amenable to sell part interest in him.

Tiz the Law works five furlongs

The connections of Tiz the Law, the Grade 1 Champagne winner by Constitution, believe a victory in the Grade 2, $300,000 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs on Nov. 30 could put them in the hunt for an Eclipse Award in the 2-yearold male division.

Typically, the award goes to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner, but that race was won by 45-1 longshot Storm the Court. Tiz the Law skipped the Breeders’ Cup because neither trainer Barclay Tagg nor the owner, Sackatoga Stable, wanted to ship cross-country to run a young horse at Santa Anita.

Given that a longshot won the Breeders’ Cup, and a victory in the Kentucky Jockey Club would cap a perfect 3-for-3 season for Tiz the Law, trainer Tagg said, “If we could win this, that would put us right there” for a divisional championship.

On Sunday, Tiz the Law worked five furlongs under

Manny Franco in 1:01.05 in company with the older turf horse Dr. Edgar over Belmont’s main track.

“Manny had him about a length and a half behind Dr. Edgar,” assistant trainer Robin Smullen said. “We didn’t do much with him at all, just real easy.”

Maedean to Demoiselle

Maedean, the 5 1/2-length winner of the Tempted Stakes last Friday at Aqueduct, will point to the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle Stakes at Aqueduct on Dec. 7, trainer Mark Hennig said Monday.

Maedean, a daughter of Tapit owned by Courtlandt Farms, earned a 74 Beyer in the Tempted, running a mile in 1:36.75.

Hennig had thought about skipping the Tempted and pointing Maedean to the Demoiselle, in part because he feels his filly will relish the two turns and 1 1/8 miles of the Demoiselle. Hennig opted to run her in the Tempted because when he looked at the Gulfstream Park winter stakes schedule he didn’t see a suitable race for 3-year-old fillies until the Grade 2, $200,000 Davona Dale, a oneturn mile at Gulfstream on Feb. 29.

“We discussed that if we ran in the two races here we could give her a nice break until Feb. 29,” Hennig said.

Gulfstream also has the Grade 2, $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks on March 28.