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Palace Malice puts away Westchester

Palace Malice coasted to his third graded stakes win in a row on Sunday in the Westchester (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography) Dogwood Stable's Palace Malice remained undefeated in his four-year-old campaign on Sunday by coasting to an easy victory in the Grade 3 $142,500 Westchester Stakes at Belmont Park, giving the Todd Pletcher pupil his third graded stakes win in a row. "Anytime you're in a race that you fully expect to win you're always a little extra anxious and you're just hoping everything goes according to plan, everything goes smoothly," Pletcher said. "Luckily, for everyone involved today, it did.  "He's three-for-three, so far, this year. He doesn't seem to have any distance limitations, short or long, to win twice at a mile, once at a mile and an eighth, Belmont (Stakes) on the résumé. We're really excited about where he is, how he is doing, and hopefully (there is) more to come." Palace Malice settled in third, just off the pace in the early going as I'm Steppin' It Up led the four-horse field through opening splits of :23 3/5 and :46 3/5. Palace Malice engaged the leaders on the outside coming around the far turn and came away with the lead turning for home. The bay put in on cruise control coming down the stretch, widening his lead with each stride and crossed the wire 9 3/4 lengths ahead of his next closest rival. "As soon as he got out on the turn he got into a nice rhythm and I just let him do it," jockey John Velazquez said. "On the line I just kept him busy. I've been watching Mike Smith and the way he rides him, when he's coming down the lane he keeps him busy. I got surprised with him at Gulfstream Park so I didn't want something like that happening again." Declan's Warrior claimed second and was 1 1/2 lengths clear of I'm Steppin' It Up in third. Red Rifle brought up the rear.

Palace Malice stopped the teletimer in 1:35 2/5 for the one-mile test over the good main track. The 1-20 favorite returned $2.10 to his loyal followers for the score.

By Curlin, Palace Malice won his second career start at Saratoga in 2012. The Kentucky-bred colt was put on the shelf for the remainder of his two-year-old season, returning with a runner-up against allowance rivals at Gulfstream Park n his sophomore debut.

The bay finished a close third when making his stakes debut in the Risen Star in February 2013 and followed with a troubled seventh in the Louisiana Derby. Palace Malice went on to post a neck second in the Blue Grass before experimenting with blinkers in the Kentucky Derby, where he sprinted to the early lead and recorded some of the fastest fractions in the race's storied history before retreating to 12th.

With the blinkers removed in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, Palace Malice rated kindly on the front end for his connections and earned his first stakes win with a 3 1/4-length upset at 13-1. He went on to capture the Jim Dandy before missing the break and recording a close fourth in the Travers.

In his first start against older horses, Palace Malice finished second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. He experienced another awkward start and never threatened in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita.

Palace Malice captured the Gulfstream Park Handicap by a head to open up the year and was coming off a 4 3/4-length score in the New Orleans Handicap at Fairgrounds, posting a career best 113 BRIS Speed rating in the process. With Sunday's victory, he improved his career line to 15-6-4-1, $1,961,135.

"We'll talk to Mr. Campbell, but we came into today with the idea that if this went well we'd look at the (Grade 1, $1.25 million Metropolitan Handicap on June 7)," Pletcher said. "He certainly ran well enough today to keep that as a top priority."

Bred by W.S. Farish, Palace Malice sold for $25,000 as a Keeneland September yearling prior to coming to Dogwood as a $200,000 Keeneland April two-year-old. He is the first stakes winner out of the stakes-winning Royal Anthem mare Palace Rumor, who is a half-sister to multiple stakes scorers Maya's Storm and Jumpifyoudare. His third dam is the granddam of Grade 1 victor Rail Trip, and further back this family has also produced English champion sprinter Flirting Around.

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