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Salutos Amigos rallies boldly under 133 pounds in Fall
Highweight
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| Salutos Amigos easily proved
best, earning his second graded win in his last three starts
(Adam Coglianese Photography) |
Favored Salutos Amigos relished the sloppy going at Aqueduct on Thursday,
rallying from far back to capture the 101st running of the Grade 3, $300,000
Fall Highweight Handicap, the Thanksgiving Day feature at the Big A.
He earned a career-best 110 BRIS Speed rating in the process.
Lugging high weight of 133 pounds, including jockey Cornelio Velasquez,
Salutos Amigos was content to linger towards the back of the pack as Weekend
Hideaway and La Verdad led through an opening quarter-mile in :22 1/5, with the
half going in :46 1/5. Angled to the outside with a furlong to go, the
four-year-old Salute the Sarge gelding kicked into high gear and swept to the
lead, hitting the wire in 1:10 3/5 for the six furlongs.
"He likes to be covered up and behind horses," Velasquez said. "When I put
him in the clear, he was the best horse. I wanted to follow (Bakken), but he
stopped at the quarter-pole. I put him in the clear at the eighth pole, and I
had a lot of horse."
The victory was the fifth in 13 starts this year for Salutos Amigos, who is
owned in partnership by Southern Equine Stables and trainer David Jacobson.
Overall, he is 6-2-4 from 24 career starts, and has now earned $627,406.
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"I wasn't concerned about the wet track because he was three-for-three in the
mud going into this," said Jacobson. "I wanted it to keep raining all day -- I
was doing a rain dance. Cornelio did an amazing job, as usual."
Sent off at 3-1, Salutos Amigos returned a $6 win mutuel as he notched his
second graded stakes of the year, having taken the Grade 3 Bold Ruler on October
25. Following that, he was seventh in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint seven
days later.
He made his third start in a 33-day span in the Fall Highweight.
"We'll take a look at the Gravesend (on December 26) next, but it's up to the
horse to let us know," said Jacobson. "He might want to run back on seven days
rest again, or not. We'll see."
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