Brian Bohl of NYRA related the story of Runaway Lute’s victory in the Rockville Centre Stakes at Belmont (today) very well, so I’m not going to try to re-write that, and be transparent in my effort. Brian did a great job, and got all the statistics in there in fine fashion.
What I am going to do is ponder Runaway Lute’s victory, and a bit of his background. The two-year-old son of an Eclipse Award-winning sprinter (Midnight Lute) so far in his career has shown his penchant for taking the lead and winning by large margins—and liking that Alpha position.
Tom Amello (Track Facts) has suggested that I chat with Kerry Thomas (Thomas Herding Technique), precisely because Kerry teaches and writes about that concept that we’ve all noticed, yet don’t often discuss in horse racing.
The concept: that, being herd animals–horses look for an Alpha. Even when they’re racing against each other. Brilliant.
Clearly, at this early stage of his career—twice, now–Runaway Lute has shown himself to be an Alpha. The resounding “So, THERE!” with which he won his maiden in May, and now the Rockville Centre Stakes, certainly marks him as being a dominant horse in this two-year-old class.
Looking at the other side of his pedigree, his mare (Nikki Tootsie) is a great-granddaughter of not one, but two Triple Crown winners: Seattle Slew and Secretariat. One of those was undefeated going into the Kentucky Derby, the other, well, he won the Belmont by a football field.
As Runaway Lute’s trainer, Gary can’t just depend on DNA, then sit back and wait for the win. His job is to chart the course, and check out the competition, so three speed horses could have caused concern. But he knows his horse, and he knows Javier Castellano’s intuitive riding:
Javier knows this horse, and he knew just when and where to take him.
With Gary to guide him and Javier to ride him, it looks to this observer that Runaway Lute has the stuff to achieve great things. Add the spirit of both his Triple Crown ancestors—the fight, the drive—the Alpha of those legendary horses, and there may be no bottom to Runaway Lute’s storehouse of talent.
Gary Contessa; Runaway Lute’s owners; his breeder and Team Contessa all should be joyous tonight, for they each play a role in the career of a very promising horse, and working with him to continue to help him grow. There may be genuine greatness inside Runaway Lute’s two-year-old body: certainly, he has the spirit of an Alpha.
And you can’t ask any more of a race horse than that.
Brian Bohl’s press release on behalf of NYRA:
ELMONT, N.Y. – Runaway Lute stayed undefeated with a convincing 8 3/4-length victory in Saturday’s $125,000 Rockville Centre for New York-bred 2-year-olds on the Belmont Park main track.
Trained by Gary Contessa, Runaway Lute went from third heading into the upper stretch before going three-wide and drawing clear to win his second race in as many starts. The son of Midnight Lute hit the wire in 1:10.82 in his stakes debut.
Jockey Javier Castellano steadied Runaway Lute after a stumble at the start and stayed close to the pace as Manifest Destiny set an opening fraction of 22.16 seconds and Silver Mission took over and went a half-mile in 45.85. Runaway Lute accelerated to take a three-length lead in the stretch before pulling away in the first six-furlong start of his career.
“Obviously, after the fact, I’m glad he got left a little bit [at the break] because he showed us a new dimension,” Contessa said. If you want to have a good horse, he’s got to have that ability to not have things go his way and win anyway. So I’m glad to see this, I’ve always thought he was a super horse. Now we’ll take the next step forward, maybe the [Grade 2] Saratoga Special [on August 14] or the [Grade 1] Hopeful [on September 5], but we’re definitely going to go open company because I think he’s that good.”
Runaway Lute, who posted a 98 Beyer Speed Figure in his maiden-breaking win on May 28, went off at 7-5 and paid $4.90 for a $2 win wager.
“He’s shown a lot of potential. I think he’s going to be a really good horse in the future,” Castellano said. “The way he did it today, he did it the right way. When it was time to go, he [went.] He switched at the right time and right place. You don’t see too many 2-year-olds that way. It’s a big advantage for a jockey to ride those kind of horses.
“He had problems at the start but it didn’t matter,” Castellano added. “I didn’t want to rush and put him in the lead. I wanted to teach him something. Today was the perfect scenario for that [with] only a five-horse field.”