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HANDICAPPING INSIGHTS FEBRUARY 8, 2013 by Dick Powell I grew up in Staten Island, New York, and went to grammar school right near Fort Wadsworth. In 1959, construction began on a bridge that would span the narrows between Staten Island and Brooklyn. First, the two towers had to be constructed and cement plants were built on each side to provide anchors to the structure. Once the 690-foot towers were constructed, pencil-thin cables are then strung from one anchor, up to the top of the tower, across the water to the other tower, and back down to the other anchor. This process is repeated and the cables are braided into four, thirty-six inch thick ropes. Once the cabling is finished, roadway structures are floated in on barges and raised by crane to be hung from the cables. At its center point, the roadway is 250 feet above the water so that any size ship can sail into New York harbor. The roadway structures are hung in place and when finished, concrete is poured. By 1964, the bridge was finished and opened to the public so that Staten Islanders could drive to Brooklyn and Manhattan without having to take a ferry. Oh, by the way, the name of the bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time, was the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Todd Pletcher had a ton of good-looking two-year-olds last year. But maybe he saved the best for last. Verrazano did not make his career debut until January 1 this year at Gulfstream Park and his name certainly caught my interest. He promptly broke his maiden by more than seven lengths going 6 1/2 furlongs in good time and earned a BRIS Speed rating of 97. Last Saturday, Pletcher stretched him out to a mile, and the results were electrifying. In a first-level allowance race, Verrazano broke well and pressed the pace set by Gunderman with Johnny Velazquez aboard. They clicked off a first quarter of 22.94 seconds, which is about as fast as you will see here with the short run-up to the timing pole. The first half-mile was run in 45.45 and Velazquez was just cruising along. As they went around the far turn, Verrazano began to assert himself and when they turned for home, he had a length lead. As Gunderman began to tire from his efforts, Verrazano was widening his margin with every stride to where he finished up 16 1/4 lengths ahead while stopping the teletimer in 1:34.80. It was a spectacular effort, no matter what the competition was, and Verrazano quickly shot up the leaderboard of the various Derby lists. He earned a BRIS Speed rating of 104 and he adds to the Pletcher's challenge to try to keep his three-year-olds away from each other while they are earning enough Derby qualifying points. By More Than Ready, he is out of a dam by Giant's Causeway whose first foal to race is Grade 2 winner El Padrino. Verrazano's second dam is Grade 1 winner Chic Shirine. More Than Ready's winning foals have an average winning distance of 6.9 furlongs and Giant's Causeway's provides the stamina with his average winning distance of 8.3 furlongs. He has a Dosage Index of 2.06 so there is plenty of stamina in his pedigree. Pletcher said after the race that the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth might be too close and would probably look elsewhere for his stakes debut. Not only will he get tested for class, but he needs to show how he would handle dirt in his face, racing in tight quarters, and can he slow down and then speed up instead of running with constant velocity. One Pletcher three-year-old that answered a bunch of questions is Revolutionary, who overcame a bunch of trouble, some of it self-imposed, to win the Grade 3 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct on the inner dirt track. I thought his career debut, when he was clobbered at the start and then rallied furiously, was sensational. Unfortunately, he was beaten in his next two starts so he was still a maiden on December 28 when he broke his maiden by 8 1/2 lengths over a good, next-out winner and earned a BRIS Speed rating of 103. Thrown into stakes company, he broke slowly, raced in traffic, had to stop and go a couple of times, then split horses in the deep stretch to get up and win. Revolutionary's BRIS Speed rating took a hit in the Withers when he only earned a 96, but he showed distance will not be a problem and has the acceleration needed to overcome traffic and a poor start. He certainly has the pedigree to go on being by Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner War Pass out of a Grade 1 Alabama winner, Runup the Colors.
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