Von Hemel’s Caleb’s Posse blasts home in the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga
Donnie Von Hemel trained 3-year-old colt Caleb’s Posse blasted past his opponents when he got cut back in distance to win the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga dirt course on 1 August, 2011.
On the field of seven, Caleb’s Posse under jockey Rajiv Maragh started a mellow race, tracking behind leaders to find some day light to break free.
The colt was coming off from two previous races, which were run at a distance of 1 1/16 miles and, a cut back to 6 ½ did him a world of good.
The opening quarter of a mile remained the same, with Caleb’s Posse trailing and holding back, waiting for the cue. By the half-mile mark Rajiv pushed Caleb’s Posse along to squeeze into the fifth position.
Caleb’s Posse, a son of grade 2 winner Posse, has a knack of pushing the odds in his favour and this time around he responded well to jockey Rajiv Maragh.
The pair pushed on the outside and, settled themselves wide into the lane, from their Rajiv Maragh took Caleb’s Posse under a nice drive running past his opponents and got home by a widening four lengths.
Redeemed and Wine Police didn’t pose much of a threat to Caleb’s Posse’s surging run, but they rallied hard for the second place, as Redeemed inched past Wine Police at the end to go by a neck for second.
It was a good race run by jockey Rajiv Maragh, because there was certainly a lot of pace in the race and he measured the distance for his horse pretty well. He knew when was the right time for Caleb’s Posse to really go all out for the win.
He did not leave it late to run and, timed his run to perfection which gave the pair enough time to take over opponents much early in the race. The 3-year-old Caleb’s Posse was sent at 12 to 1 for the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes restricted for 3-year-olds,
and the winner clocked the distance in 1 minute and 15.88 seconds.
“If you looked at his races last year, (Caleb’s Posse) was a capable sprinter that we were stretching out because of the opportunities the 3-year-olds have through the spring,” said Von Hemel. “It turned out that maybe we should have been sprinting before
now.”
Prior to the win, the colt ran in the Grade 3 Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadow at a distance of 1 1/16 miles on 25 June, 2011, under jockey E Razo, and finished fourth.
Another race of similar distance was the Grade 3 Ohio Derby at Thistledown, which the colt won in supreme style with jockey E Razo on 4 June, 2011.
Caleb’s Posse a true sprinter running on stretched out distances really shows the opportunity the 3-year-old colts have in the summer to be versatile and win races which are off the radar.
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