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Blofeld remains undefeated in Futurity

Blofeld shot through on the rail to win his stakes debut in the Futurity (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography) Glencrest Farm, LLC and JSM Equine's Blofeld eventually got through on the rail and charged home to capture his stakes debut in Sunday's Grade 2, $196,200 Futurity Stakes at Belmont for two-year-olds. Blofeld broke from post position two and angled to the rail as Cinco Charlie took command early from the inside post, to lead the field through an opening quarter in :23. Blofeld contested the pace early, tried to squeeze through but had to check around the turn causing him to lose ground. "I thought he lost his momentum when he got squeezed out on the turn," trainer Todd Pletcher said. "It took him a while to regain it and I thought it might have left him with too much to do, but he put in an explosive last sixteenth of a mile.

Meanwhile Cinco Charlie put up a half-mile in :46 1/5 as eventual runner-up Hebbronville pressured him on the outside. Blofeld gained his composure under John Velazquez and slowly came back at the leaders near the top of the stretch. With the rail left open, the gray colt was picking up steam in midstretch and blew by with a sixteenth remaining to prevail at the wire by three-quarters of a length.

"It wasn't the trip I was expecting, but he still won," Velazquez said. "We got squeezed out of a spot near the half-mile pole. We were behind the top two horses and he was getting a little bit intimidated, but once he got his momentum going he came back again. I'm proud of him, because they're babies, they don't get squeezed and try to come back again in the same spot. I was getting worried that he may not get there, but once he got close enough to the other horses he got into another gear."

Blofeld stopped the teletimer in 1:09 2/5 going six furlongs on the fast main track. Sent off as the 6-5 favorite, he paid $4.40 to his backers and now has $169,800 in his bank account from two starts.

The son of Quality Road won his racing bow by a length, despite racing greenly down the stretch, at Saratoga on August 22.

"The plan going into this race was to go next to the (Grade 2) Nashua, ($200,000 at Aqueduct on November 2), but I will talk to the connections and see if that's still the plan," Pletcher said.

Hebbronville edged out Cinco Charlie by a neck for runner up, while Far Right and Mr. Amoss brought up the rear.

Bred in Kentucky by Keats Grove Farm, Blofeld is out of the Storm Cat mare Storm Minstrel. His Grandam is Grade 2 winner Colonial Minstrel and the gray's third dam is Irish champion Minstrella. His female family also includes Grade 2 victor A Little Warm as well as Grade 3 winners Minidar and Pleasant Strike.

Blofeld sold as a weanling for $135,000 at the Keeneland November sale and was re-sold as a yearling for $275,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale. The gray returned to the sales ring as a two-year-old in training and brought $225,000 at the Fasig-Tipton The Florida Sale.

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