Courtesy of NYRA
Impressive maiden-winner One Nine Hundred is set to make his stakes bow in Saturday’s Listed $150,000 Chick Lang, a six-furlong sprint for sophomores, on the Grade 1 Preakness undercard at Pimlico Race Course.
Trained by Tom Morley for owners Steven Rocco, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Adelphi Racing Club, the son of Dialed In was last seen posting an eye-catching seven-length graduation sprinting six furlongs on March 29 at Aqueduct Racetrack, earning the same 92 Beyer Speed Figure he received for a pacesetting runner-up effort to subsequent stakes-winner Colloquial in a February 7 maiden there.
In his winning effort, One Nine Hundred led at every point of call under Jose Lezcano, setting splits of 22.50 seconds, 45.82 and 57.78 over the fast footing before opening up in the lane to post the easy victory in a final time of 1:10.51.
“He’s had plenty of time to get over his maiden win, he’s trained beautifully, and we’re looking forward to Saturday,” Morley said. “We don’t particularly want to see a wet track as he’s never run on it, but the weather forecast looks like it should be OK.”
One Nine Hundred enters the Chick Lang off two sharp half-mile works over the Belmont Park dirt training track, going the distance in 47 seconds flat on April 30 and in 47.20 on May 8.
“You’re always hoping with these very fast horses that you don’t see an awful lot from them in the mornings,” Morley said. “You know it’s there, so it’s a case of keeping him ticking over, happy and sound. He’s done all of the above. His works are fast because he’s a fast horse, not because I’m asking him to work fast. He’s an exciting talent, and he’s got to take a step up.”
One Nine Hundred’s maiden win came with a pacesetting trip, but he did show the ability to rate on debut when stalking in fourth early and rallying for a head third to eventual stakes-winner T Kraft in January. Morley said he will leave Saturday’s tactics in the capable hands of reigning Eclipse Award-winning rider Flavien Prat, who rides the colt for the first time in the afternoon.
“Flavien won the Eclipse Award for winning races last year, and I didn’t. I shall leave that to him,” Morley concluded.
One Nine Hundred was a $240,000 purchase at last year’s OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, where he worked an eighth of a mile in 10 seconds flat. He is out of the Curlin mare Hedonism, who also produced listed stakes-winner Real Macho.
“They all have the same expectations when they come into the barn, and that is that I hope they can win races,” Morley said. “He tipped his hand at the 2-year-old sale that he could be a fast horse, but trust me, I’ve had plenty of those that have turned out to not be fast horses. Steve Rocco bought him, and he sent me to see him and asked me if I liked him. He did all the work, so full credit to him.”
Prat will look to engineer a winning ride from post 8 [7-2ML favorite] in the field of 11.
