Thoroughbred Daily News-declared “Rising Star” Signator is stepping up in class for the grade 2 Suburban Stakes on Saturday, June 8 at Saratoga. Race 6 on the Belmont Stakes undercard, it will cover a mile and a quarter over the dirt. Signator has the inside post in a field of 8 with Javier Castellano aboard. Post time is 1:51 pm Eastern.
Signator showed promise early on in his career, being declared a “Rising Star” by Thoroughbred Daily News after a dynamic maiden win at Aqueduct in his second juvenile start in October of 2022. Following the win, he had a 10-month layoff and earned two wins among allowance company from six starts as a 3-year-old.
Saturday’s start will be his second graded stakes race. He finishing ninth in the grade 3 Fred W. Hooper in January at Gulfstream Park and then took a 105-day layoff before finishing fourth among allowance company early last month at Aqueduct.
Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, he prepared for the Suburban with a four-furlong breeze over a fast Belmont dirt training track on Sunday, June 2nd in 47.64 seconds, the ninth-fastest of 132 workouts that morning.
By Gainesway Farm stallion Tapit and out of Phipps-bred Seeking the Gold mare Pension, he shares the same sire and female family as superstar sensation Flightline who stands in Kentucky at Lane’s End Farm.
A win by Signator would be the ninth time a Phipps horse has won the Suburban. The impressive list includes Dynamic One (2022, owned in partnership), Easy Goer (1990), Dancing Spree (1989), Personal Flag (1988), Buckpasser (1967), Bold Ruler (1958), Busanda (1951), and Snark (1938).
A $1.7 million purchase from the Eddie Woods Stables consignment at the April 2022 Ocala Breeders’ Sale, Signator is owned in a partnership that includes West Point Thoroughbreds, Inc., Woodford Racing LLC, Gainesway Farm (his breeder), Phipps Stable, Ken Langone, Edward Hudson Jr., Lynne Hudson, and Lane’s End Farm.
Photo: Signator, January 2023
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