Horse, Dog & Sports In Sharper Focus: Diversify

RacingHorse

Trusted Member
4th-AQU, $59,000, (S), Alw (NW2$X)/Opt. Clm ($40,000), 12-14, 3yo/up, 1 1/16m, 1:44.96, ft.

DIVERSIFY, g, 3, by Bellamy Road

1st Dam: Rule One, by Street Cry (Ire)

2nd Dam: Compete, by El Prado (Ire)

3rd Dam: Pete’s Heiress, by Peteski

Click for the Equibase.com chart, VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton or the Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

When WinStar Farm entered “TDN Rising Star” Diversify (Bellamy Road) in the Keeneland November sale, trainer Rick Violette found a way to keep him in the barn, purchasing the promising sophomore for $210,000 on behalf of longtime client Ralph Evans and his daughter Lauren. The New York-bred justified that decision Wednesday with a dominant 12 3/4-length success at Aqueduct in his first start for his new owners.

“He is still an untapped resource I think,” commented Violette when asked why he purchased the horse for Evans. “He had ran well twice. He is a New York-bred, so we still have a couple of conditions in front of us. He is very talented and light on racing so far, so I think there is plenty of racing in front of him. Ralph and I have been together for 25 years or something like that. He was interested and his daughter bought into him, so him and his daughter are partners.”

Winning his first two starts against fellow Empire-breds at Belmont by a combined 10 lengths, Diversify was hammered down to 1-2 favoritism in Wednesday’s state-bred optional claimer at the Big A. Seizing the early advantage, the bay ticked off opening splits of :23.63 and :47.95 and rolled clear in the lane under a hand ride by Jose Ortiz to win for fun in 1:44.96.

“The fractions were quite swift, :23 and :47 on [Wednesday’s] racetrack was probably too fast,” Violette remarked. “It was a little faster than I was comfortable with. Rudy [Rodriguez]’s horse [No Texting (Stormy Atlantic)] kind of loomed up at the 5/16ths pole and I was concerned that was going to compromise us, but obviously it didn’t. He just galloped home and did it pretty easily. We think he is a pretty nice horse and we will have fun with him.”

As for Diversify’s future, Violette does not have his next race picked out quite yet and plans to be conservative with the lightly-raced gelding.

“We can go in the open A-other than and the open two A-other than,” the conditioner said. “There are owner bonuses there as well with a New York-bred running in open company, so those purses become pretty significant and then we don’t have to take on some of those heavy hitters yet. We might be conservative. A lot of it will have to do with timing. If there is a stake that comes up that is a really good spot, we wouldn’t throw that out. We will let him cool out and see how he comes out of the race. I will get together with Mr. Evans and come up with a game plan.” —Christie DeBernardis

Continue reading...
 
Top