Willet #1 (Adam Coglianese)
Willet, runaway winner of the Iroquois Stakes on Showcase Day, put true grit on display in the stretch run of the Grade 2, $200,000 Go for Wand Handicap at Aqueduct on Friday to finish second by just a neck to Nefertini.
Out of the gate well from her rail post, Willet (2-1 second choice) moved quickly up into second behind heavy 3-5 favorite Fantasy of Flight, who immediately struck the front.
During the long run up the backstretch for the one-turn mile, Willet lost two spots as Nefertini (9-1) moved up into second in the two path and R Gypsy Gold advanced at the rail. Regaining third in the two-path in the far turn, Willet seemed to break again with a new rival to fix on – Nefertini, who had taken over from a sputtering Fantasy of Flight at the quarter pole.
Willet came at Nefertini with determination in the stretch, engaged her fully with a furlong to go and reached her throatlatch in the final sixteenth, but Nefertini, in the words of her jockey, Alan Garcia, “was fighting and didn’t want to get beat.” Willet never gave up the fight either, finishing just a neck short of the winner by the wire. After opening fractions of 23.99 and 46.92, the final time for the mile was 1:35.80.
Willet’s jockey Rajiv Maragh said, “She tried hard. It was a good horse race at the top of the lane. I think the mile got her at the end. By the sixteenth pole, she was at the end of her rope. It wasn’t for lack of effort. The effort was good.”
A 4-year-old daughter of Jump Start trained by Jimmy Iselin, who owns her in partnership with Charlotte Assoulin and Eli Gindi, Willet burst into the limelight a month ago when she bested an extremely strong field in the Iroquois on Showcase Day by 9 1/4 lengths in the slop. She showed talent before, however, never out of the money in six prior starts and running a strong second to Risky Rachel in the Union Avenue at Saratoga in her stakes debut this summer.
Unraced at two, Willet broke her maiden by 14 lengths at Belmont in September 2011 after a runner-up finish in her Saratoga debut. Starting twice more last year, she won back-to-back allowance races at Aqueduct in November and December by a combined 13 1/4 lengths.
Willet did not return to competition until August of this year when she finished second in the Union Avenue and third in an open entry-level allowance at Belmont on September 23 prior to the Iroquois.
Apt to get wound up pre-race, Willet has become a model of composure since Iselin adopted the practice, learned from his mentor Charlie Whittingham, of having someone ride her over from the barn to the paddock.
With a record of 4-3-1 from eight starts Willet has now earned $245,400.
Bred by the late Michael T. Martin and foaled at Highcliff Farm in Delanson (now Highcliff at Mill Creek Farm), Willet is out of Katina K, a winning daughter of Distinctive Pro out of Grade 3 winner Darlin Momma (Night Invader). Katina K has produced four winners from four starters, including 10-time winner Dr. Quirk (Tomorrows Cat) who earned $159,305. Willet is her most recent foal to start.
