Overanalyze Tops 31st Iroquois

Oct 25, 2012 Travers Manley

Repole Stable’s Overanalyze, a 3 ¼-length winner of the Futurity (Grade II) at Belmont Park, headlines a field of 10 entered for Sunday’s 31^st running of the $100,000-added Iroquois (GIII) to be run at a mile on the main track at Churchill Downs on Opening Day of the 123^rd Fall Meet.

The Iroquois and the $150,000-added Pocahontas (GII) for 2-year-old fillies share the spotlight on the “Stars of Tomorrow I” program, which features racing exclusively for 2-year-olds and kicks off the 21-day Fall Meet.

The Iroquois, named for the famous colt who became the first American-bred to win the English Derby in 1881, is scheduled as Race 10 on the 11-race program and has a post time of 5:02 p.m. (all times Eastern). Post time for the first race is 12:40 p.m.  

After breaking his maiden at first asking at Saratoga in August, the Todd Pletcher-trained Overanalyze made his next start in the Hopeful (GII) and finished fourth to his stablemate, Shanghai Bobby. He rebounded from that performance to collect his first stakes win in the Futurity. He will break from post six and be ridden by two-time Iroquois winner Julien Leparoux.

The other graded stakes winner in the field is Swifty Farm Inc.’s Pataky Kid, three-length winner of the Arlington-Washington Futurity (GIII) at Arlington Park. Trained by Tom Proctor, Pataky Kid finished fourth in the Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity (GI) at Keeneland in his next start and he will seek to bounce back from that effort in the Iroqouis. He will break from post three and be ridden by Joel Rosario.

Also among the entrants for the Iroquois are stakes winners Uncaptured, a Canadian-bred colt who recorded victories in the Swynford, Vandal and Clarendon at Woodbine prior to finishing fifth as the 2-5 favorite in the Grey (GIII), and Heaven’s Runway, winner of the Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial at Presque Isle Downs in his most recent start. Uncaptured, a supplementary nomination, will break from post eight under Miguel Mena and Heaven’s Runway will break from post five under Rosie Napravnik. 

The field for the Iroquois, from the rail out, is as follows: Road Agent (ridden by Leandro Goncalves, 118 pounds), Agave Cat (Robby Albarado, 118), Pataky Kid (Rosario, 123), Five Iron (Elvis Trujillo, 118), Heaven’s Runway (Napravnik, 120), Overanalyze (Leparoux, 123), Strike the Note (Brian Hernandez Jr., 118), Uncaptured (Mena, 120), Triple Cross (Scott Spieth, 118) and Positively (Calvin Borel, 118).

In just seven years, Stars of Tomorrow – Churchill Downs’ two days of racing entirely devoted to rising 2-year-old stars – has been the launching pad for numerous graded stakes winners. Twenty-seven participants became Grade I winners, including Kentucky Derby 137 champ Super Saver, 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and this year’s Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can. Fourteen became millionaires: Court Vision, Rachel Alexandra, Lawyer Ron, Pure Clan, Shackleford, Super Saver, Macho Again, Giant Oak, First Dude, Swift Temper, General Quarters, Fly Down, Believe You Can and Any Given Saturday.

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