By B. Jason Brooks
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Ending a 45-day layoff after finishing runner-up by a head last time out, overwhelming 1-to-5 favorite Pentathlon lived up to expectations, cruising home to a three-and-a-half-length victory under newly-elected Hall of Fame jockey Joel Rosario.
In the one-mile maiden special weight race starting in the chute, Pentathlon broke well and dropped from the two-path to the inside, rating just off the pace and saving ground while drafting behind the leader through the first turn, up the backstretch, and through the far turn. He was urged while moving back to the two-path at the top of the stretch, closing in on the leader before going to the front outside of the sixteenth pole and drawing clear for his first victory. The chestnut Speightstown colt finished in 1 minute and 37.06 seconds.
The race was the third of his 3-year-old campaign and fifth of his career. The win brings his career record to one win, one runner-up, and two third-place finishes.
Bred by Phipps Stable and co-owned by the breeder, Vincent Viola’s St. Elias Stables, and the Farish family’s Woodford Racing partnership, he was foaled on February 6, 2021 in Paris, Kentucky at Claiborne Farm. Pentathlon was broken and pre-trained in Ocala, Florida at Niall Brennan Stables and is trained by Hall of Famer Claude R. “Shug” McGaughey.
A sixth-generation Phipps bred out of stakes-placed Tapit mare Parade, Pentathlon is from the Personal Ensign branch of the female family tracing back to imported Argentine-bred Dorine, by British sire Aristophanies, acquired by Ogden Phipps in 1970.
See yesterday’s story “Promising Phipps Colt Pentathlon Chasing First Score” on the Phipps Stable Fan blog for more on Pentathlon’s racing career and pedigree.
Photos by B. Jason Brooks
Phipps Stable Fan 