Trainer Brittany Russell Notches Four-Win Day Sunday
Thursday, Oct. 3 Marks Return of Four-Day Race Schedule
LAUREL, MD – When it comes to finding the next spot for West Point Thoroughbreds, Jimmy Kahig Racing, CJ Stables and Edwin Barker’s Pascaline, impressive winner of the $150,000 Laurel Futurity in just his second start, trainer Arnaud Delacour plans to exercise patience with the promising 2-year-old colt.
“He’s very mature. He’s always been very professional. We’ve liked him since the get-go,” Delacour said. “I’m not going to panic. I’m going to see how he comes back, see what our options are and speak to the group and see what they want to do.”
Pascaline, a West Virginia-bred son of Upstart out of the Harlan’s Holiday mare Tres Chic, turned back a late bid from Grade 3-placed stakes winner and 2-1 favorite Studlydoright to register a two-length victory in the prestigious Laurel Futurity, which was rained off the turf and shortened from 1 1/16 miles to one mile. Pascaline was entered for main track only.
“What a thrill,” West Point executive vice president Tom Bellhouse said. “He really had a difficult trip in his first race, and he overcame it. It was a visually impressive race that came back slow, but [yesterday] he ran a really big-time race against a horse that’s already a stakes winner at Saratoga. We’re just super happy.”
Pascaline sold for $40,000 as a Keeneland yearling last fall and then brought to Europe, where he fetched $84,943 at the mid-April Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up sale in Newmarket, England. He was sent to Delacour, registering his first timed work in early June at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md.
“Arnaud has just done an amazing job,” Bellhouse said. “He’s been high on him all along. The fact that we bought a West Virginia-bred in Europe, a big shout out to Kip Elser who picked him out. This is a fun horse.
“Arnaud has only had a handful of horses for us and a lot of times they’ve been some reclamation projects,” he added. “We have [three-time winner] Independenceavenue with him now and this colt. It’s an exciting time for us.”
Pascaline had to overcome a tough trip in his Aug. 24 debut sprinting 6 ½ furlongs at Colonial Downs, getting clear late to win by 1 ¾ lengths. Victor Carrasco, aboard that day, returned to ride in the Laurel Futurity.
“His first race we wanted to make sure to teach him something. We didn’t want him to get loose on the front and not learn anything,” Delacour said. “He learned plenty that day, with the kickback and being on the inside. He had kind of a rough trip, but he overcame it very nicely. I was very happy with that.”
Pascaline was under consideration for the West Virginia Moscarelli Memorial Breeders’ Classic Oct. 12 at Charles Town, but Delacour is expected to skip the 6 ½-furlong sprint for 2-year-olds.
“I think it’s coming back a little quick and I don’t think I want to cut back in distance now,” he said. “I think that eventually when he matures and gets stronger, a two-turn race is probably what we’ll want to do. We’ll see.”
Having affirmed his quality in the Laurel Futurity, the connections are excited to see what the future holds for Pascaline, the younger half-brother of Social Chic, a West Virginia-bred stakes winner that has banked $436,538 in purse earnings.
“He’s a West Virginia-bred, so we have all those options available to us,” Bellhouse said. “Arnaud has been extremely bullish on him and he knew he had to step up, but he really was confident that he’d run well. We’re just overwhelmed for the partners and everybody. It’s a really fun horse that I think if we can keep him in one piece, we’ll have a lot of fun together.”
Notes: Trainer Brittany Russell won with all four of her starters Sunday – Photo Finish ($8.80) in Race 3, Simply Stated ($9.20) in Race 5, Buoyant ($6.20) in Race 8 and Johnnyfrenchfri ($4) in Race 10 … Photo Finish, Simply Stated ($9.20) in Race 5 and Johnnyfrenchfri were all ridden by Jaime Rodriguez … Jockey Ben Curtis doubled on Speak Your Mind ($7) in Race 2 and Buoyant … Live racing moves to a Thursday through Sunday schedule for the month of October starting Thursday, Oct. 3. There will be carryovers of $4,084.63 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (Races 3-8) and $732.82 in the $1 Jackpot Super High Five (Race 6) on an eight-race program that starts at 12:25 p.m.