SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Courtly Banker entered Thursday’s $125,000 Rick Violette Stakes the only maiden in the field but came out a maiden no more after out-dueling the pacesetting Fidelightcayut to register a well-deserved neck victory over a turf course softened by heavy showers that began just minutes before post time.
Courtly Banker may have been winless in four starts prior to the Rick Violette but he was already multiple stakes-placed, having finished second in the Spectacular Bid and Cab Calloway divisions of the New York Stallion Series. Both races were won by division leader The Big Torpedo, whose connections opted to skip this race to await the opportunity to take on open company in the Grade 3 Saranac later this month.
With light rain still falling and lightning crackling in the background, Fidelightcayut quickly sprinted to a clear lead along the inside with Courtly Banker taking up a perfect striking position under jockey John Velazquez in the run down the backstretch. Courtly Banker engaged the leader on the far turn, stuck his head in front upon settling into the stretch then maintained a narrow advantage under strong handling to the wire.
Fidelightcayut, who finished third, 3 1/4 lengths behind Courtly Banker in the Cab Calloway, posted splits of 25.45 seconds, 51.40, and 1:17.07 for the opening six furlongs over a course officially listed as “yielding” for the race. Fidelightcayut dug in gamely before relinquishing the lead and finally succumbing at the end. Cable Ready raced forwardly placed from the outset and while no match for the top pair, remained best of the others.
Courtly Banker, a 3-year-old son of Central Banker trained by Barclay Tagg and owned by Sakatoga Stable, ran the 1 1/16 miles over the soggy going in 1:47.36. Despite being the lone maiden in the field, Courtly Banker was sent postward the 5-2 favorite and paid $7.90.
Tagg said he wasn’t concerned when the rain started to fall, even though his horse had never raced over anything but firm ground in his three previous turf outings.
“Once he [John Velazquez] said he was willing to ride, I was happy,” said Tagg. “Over the years you see things like that. You think ‘oh he’s going to hate that [a soft course]’ and the worse it gets, the better they run.”
Tagg’s longtime assistant, Robin Smullen, did admit had the race been taken off the grass at the last minute due to the conditions, Courtly Banker would not have run over the sloppy and sealed main track.
“If it came off [the turf], we were out,” said Smullen. “There was a maiden race going a mile on the 30th. But we don’t have to worry about the maiden [race] no more. “When Johnny was laying second down the backside it looked like the horse was really liking the turf. When he asked him and he gave it, it didn’t really look like anybody else was closing and I thought he was going to hang on.”
Both Tagg and Smullen voiced their respect for Rick Violette, the late trainer and longtime president of the New York Thoroughbred Horseman’s Association, for whom the race was named.
“Rick Violette meant everything to the racing community. He meant everything to the horsemen and the retired horses,” said Smullen. “He was a pillar of excellence. I watched him work around a horse in the paddock here one day and it was amazing to watch him. He was an unbelievable horseman.”
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