Adam Coglianese
Top turfer Notacatbutallama (Harlan’s Holiday) managed to overcome sloppy conditions on the Saratoga main track on Friday when he rode the rail to his first Grade 2 victory under John Velazquez in an off-the-turf renewal $200,000 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame for 3-year-olds.
Trained by Todd Pletcher for Repole Stable, Notacatbutallama acquitted himself well once before over an “off” dirt track, coming from off the pace to finish second in the Damon Runyon in the slop last December.
Drawn inside four rivals, after the field was reduced by the scratch of Rydilluc and Balance the Books, Notacatbutallama went to the post as second choice at 5-2 odds.
Debra Roma
After a good break, Notacatbutallama established a comfortable position in fourth at the rail as the field rounded the clubhouse turn, while Get in Line, tracked by North Slope and chased by Battier, led the way through early fractions of 24.92 and 49.90.
Still saving ground entering the far turn Notacatbutallama came off the rail briefly to circle a fading Get in Line, but then eased back inside and cut the corner into the head of stretch. With a furlong to go, Notacatbutallama dug in, drew even with new leader North Slope, took over at the sixteenth pole and edged away to a 3/4-length victory. The final time for the nine furlongs in the slop was 1:52.29. North Slope finished 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Battier in third.
Debra Roma
Velazquez said, “It took me a little bit to get him going again, from the three-sixteenths pole to the wire, but he got it done. He runs every single time, no matter what. He loves to run, loves to compete.”
Todd Pletcher (who also trained the third and fourth place finishers, Battier and Charming Kitten) said, “We felt like those three horses [Get in Line, North Slope, Battier] would show speed and we’d be in a spot behind them. [Notacatbutallama] was in good position and when the rail came open, he came up the fence.”
As to the decision to keep Notacatbutallama in the race after it came off the turf, Pletcher said, “I had a feeling he was turning into a top-class turf horse, and you hate to change surfaces. At least we know now in this situation what he can do.”
An impressive 6 1/2-length winner going long on turf last year at Saratoga in his career second start, Notacatbutallama wheeled straight back in ten days to finish a solid fourth behind Balance the Books, Joha and Charming Kitten in the Grade 2 With Anticipation.
Following a runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Pilgrim on October 8 at Belmont, Notacatbutallama put back-to-back stakes victories on his resume, winning the Incurable Optimist on the final day of the Belmont meet and the Super Mario at Aqueduct in late November. Notacatbutallama wrapped up his juvenile campaign with a close-up runner-up finish while making his dirt debut over off going in the Damon Runyon on December 9.
Off-the-board in a second dirt experiment, the Grade 2 Jerome in January, Notacatbutallama returned to the turf after a four-plus month freshening, knocked off the rust with a third in the James W. Murphy at Pimlico on Preakness Day and then put together back-to-back game stakes victories, taking the Grade 3 Hill Prince on June 15 and the Solar Splendor Stakes on July 13.
Notacatbutallama’s first Grade 2 victory improves his record to 6-3-1 from 12 starts. The $120,000 winner’s share of the purse brings his career earnings to $488,334.
A fourth generation product of the late Peter Wetherill’s Happy Hill Farm breeding program, Notacatbutallama was foaled at Sue and Gary Lundy’s Cedar Ridge Farm in Pine Plains. He is the third winner from five foals to start out of Self Rising, a stakes-placed daughter of Hansel ($164,931). Her second foal is New York-bred Toque by Alphabet Soup, who has won 10 of 30 starts to date ($176,996).
Notacatbutallama first sold as a 2011 Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred Saratoga yearling for $50,000 to Nick de Meric, who turned him around as a two-year-old at the OBS Spring sale, where he was purchased by Repole Stables for $105,000.
Self Rising currently has a 2-year-old filly by Mineshaft named Jazzminegem, also bred by Happy Hill Farm and foaled at Cedar Ridge Farm, who was purchased by Peacock Ridge for $100,000 at the 2013 OBS spring sale of 2-year-olds in training.
[UPDATE 8/14/2013: After a review of the running of the off-the-turf National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Stakes the American Graded Stakes Committee determined the original Grade 2 status would not be reinstated. The 2013 renewal of the race, automatically downgraded one level to a Grade 3 event when moved to the main track, was recorded as a Grade 3 race by the committee.]
