Local Knowledge digs deep for Velazquez in Amsterdam

Channeling the determination of sire Yaupon and his milestone-seeking jockey, John Velazquez, Local Knowledge outdueled Solitude Dude in Friday’s $250,000 Amsterdam (G2) at Saratoga.

The Todd Pletcher pupil belied his inexperience to prevail in just his third career start, giving Velazquez the 800th graded stakes victory of his Hall of Fame career. The result was also important for owner Spendthrift Farm, the home of Yaupon, who is far and away the leading second-crop sire in North America. 

Yaupon had captured the Amsterdam himself in 2020, likewise in his stakes debut and third career start. While Local Knowledge was emulating his sire’s victory, he had a much harder fight on his hands.  

Unlike Yaupon, who was unbeaten at the time, Local Knowledge was coming off a loss in an allowance at this track and trip. But the bay had not raced since his debut score at Keeneland last fall, and he faced older horses in that June 6 reappearance. His third-place effort in the allowance set him up for a breakthrough in the Amsterdam, a stepping stone to the Aug. 29 H. Allen Jerkens (G1).

Dispatched as the 4.17-1 second choice, Local Knowledge tracked in second as American Man sped forward on the rail. Solitude Dude was perched in a monitoring third through fast fractions of :21.77 and :44.64. 

When Solitude Dude ranged up turning for home, Local Knowledge was in between him and American Man, but he maintained his position well. American Man began to give way, leaving Solitude Dude and Local Knowledge to battle the rest of the way.

Although the more experienced Solitude Dude put his head in front, Local Knowledge found plenty under pressure to fend him off by a head. He clocked 6 1/2 furlongs in a brisk 1:14.89.

Obliteration, the 4-5 favorite, churned on another 3 1/2 lengths adrift in third. Jockey Jose Ortiz did not believe that his waywardness on the backstretch, when he veered inside abruptly, made a difference. 

“When I tried to ease back to get behind the speed, my horse kind of ducked in to the left. It honestly surprised me, but after that I had a very good trip,” Ortiz said. “I have no excuses. I think the excuse wasn't for me but for the horse I probably bothered (Gilded Bandit).”

American Man tired to fourth, followed by White Smoke Rising, the hampered Gilded Bandit, who was carried in violently by Obliteration; and Rockies Balboa. Lincoln’s Law was scratched.

“He was game,” Velazquez said of Local Knowledge. “I didn’t expect to be that close to the lead, but I inherited it where I was. I took the horse inside, the horse outside tried to go and keep up with them. I just bide my time. I asked him and I’m very proud that he did (go on). He felt that horse the whole way down the stretch. For a horse that has only run three times, to do what he did today was very special.”

Velazquez also commented on graded stakes win number 800.

“Very blessed with all the opportunities I’ve been given riding all these horses. One day, I’ll look back and say, ‘I enjoyed that.’ Todd (Pletcher) and I have been together for 20-something years, and he’s very successful, we’ve been successful together, so doing it with him was definitely special.”

“He's a remarkable man,” Pletcher said of his fellow Hall of Famer. “It's unbelievable the level he's been riding at for so many years.”

Local Knowledge, who sports a mark of 3-2-0-1, $214,133, won in the manner of a colt bound for a higher level.

“It was a pretty determined effort,” Pletcher said. “We were giving up seasoning again. In his second start off a long layoff, he had to run against older horses, and it was one of those things where I think it was a better race than it looked on paper. You could have looked at coming back in an allowance race, but he sold us on this stake the way he had been training.”

If Local Knowledge continues to tout himself in the mornings, he’ll take his chance in the seven-furlong Jerkens on Travers Day.

“I think we have to,” Pletcher observed. “I think he'll handle the stretch-out to seven. As long as he trains the way he has been, that's what we'll target.”

Lying in wait is the brilliant Englishman, who left Obliteration and Solitude Dude well behind when romping in the June 6 Woody Stephens (G1) over the Jerkens course and distance. 

Local Knowledge was bred by Stoneriggs Farm in Kentucky and initially sold for $260,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. A pinhook success for Hoppel, he resold for $625,000 at OBS April. 

The May 1 foal is a half-brother to Grade 3-placed sprinter Ang N Ash. Both are out of the Scat Daddy mare Chestnut Street, herself a half-sister to the prolific New York-bred Saratoga Snacks. This is the further family of Grade 1 winner Without Feathers.