Aron Wellman was at a loss, without a clue as he sat in his box and watched the field get to the serious running on the far turn in Saturday’s $500,000 King’s Bishop Stakes. A full field of 14 and a deep closer negotiating his way will do that to an owner.
He was looking for Capo Bastone, who races for Wellman’s Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners group and was no longer racing at the back of the bulky bunch. The Street Boss colt moved up midrace, but Wellman still couldn’t pick him out. He didn’t give up, just went for a second opinion.
“I typically have a pretty locked-in view of any runner we might have, especially a big one, but really one in any race,” Wellman said. “I’ve got to be honest with you, I knew he was in a good spot going to the three-eighths pole. I thought the kid had him into the bridle and in a good spot, but in the back of mind I’m thinking, ‘Speed’s not coming back today, it’s played favorably to speed.’
“I lost him at the quarter-pole and I turned to my wife and said, ‘Tell me that’s him because whoever that is is going to win the race.’ Then I picked up the stripe on our cap and then it was time to get Irad home.”
Turns out Wellman was right about the horse he picked out-yes the one rolling around the far turn-and with an assist to the light blue stripe on Irad Ortiz Jr.’s otherwise black helmet got to watch Capo Bastone in full view past his box and in front at the finish of the King’s Bishop.
Capo Bastone won in a quick 1:22.22 and by 2 lengths, a surprising margin considering he was ahead of only two rivals still in the race at the top of the lane and also because Mentor Cane looked home free while keeping a straight course down on the fence.
The Grade 1 King’s Bishop was also the first stakes win for Capo Bastone, equally surprising since it feels like he’s been around like the gym rat always at the ready for a pickup game of basketball. He’s been close, finishing third in a pair of Grade 1s, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and FrontRunner at Santa Anita, at 2 and the Grade 3 Derby Trial this year. And he’s thrown in some clunkers, too, finishing ninth in the Grade 3 Spiral and seventh in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens on Belmont Stakes Day.
“I’m happy for the horse most of all,” Wellman said. “We always thought he was a Grade 1-caliber horse and for him to vindicate himself today on this stage is really gratifying.”
Capo Bastone, a $175,000 private sale out of last year’s OBS March 2-year-olds in training sale, started his career in Southern California with John Sadler. Wellman said it was Sadler who encouraged the move to the East Coast, to get Capo Bastone away from the California tracks that were “extremely speed-favoring.”
Check out the full story in today’s edition of The Saratoga Special.
