Walter Wlodarczyk Photo

Cyclone State takes $150K Jerome by storm

by Mary Eddy

Gold Square, George Messina and Michael Lee’s Cyclone State stormed home in dominant fashion to win Saturday’s $150,000 Jerome, a one-turn mile for sophomores, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by Chad Summers, the son of McKinzie secured the maximum allotment of the 10-5-3-2-1 Kentucky Derby qualifying points awarded to the top-five finishers in the first New York prep of the year for the prestigious test on the first Saturday in May.

Cyclone State notched his first stakes victory on the heels of back-to-back wins when setting the pace over course and distance on November 3 and December 6, respectively. The talented colt is now a near-perfect 3-for-4 when ridden by Luis Rivera, Jr., who guided him once again to a pacesetting victory.

Summers said Cyclone State touted himself as a quality horse since the beginning of his career.

"He's just a special horse. He's a horse we've always been high on,” Summers said. “He reared up a little bit at the start, but we've learned with him. Nobody goes in the gate with him - he's got a little bit of a funny mouth, he doesn't like that. Luis Rivera has worked with him a lot getting on him in the morning time and in the afternoon. He just continues to get better.”

Cyclone State emerged from post 6-of-7 and made the front exiting the chute to mark an opening quarter-mile in 23.43 seconds over the fast main track under pressure from Enduring Spirit to his inside.

The Manny Franco-piloted Ican was keen behind foes in the middle of the pack, but took up and shuffled back when he attempted to advance between the stalking pair of Mansetti and Georgia Magic. Midway down the backstretch, Rivera, Jr. let Cyclone State out a notch as he put daylight between him and the stalling Enduring Spirit.

Mansetti put in his bid entering the turn and took up second position to the outside of Cyclone State while Grade 3-placed Studlydoright inched closer a three-wide third and Ican was roused by Franco through the half-mile in 47.25. Sahin Civaci was already shaking the reins aboard Mansetti with Studlydoright and Ican also under strong drives at the top of the stretch, but Rivera, Jr. was motionless aboard Cyclone State as he bounded clear to a six-length advantage after three-quarters in 1:13.20.

The Raul Mena-piloted Omaha Omaha trailed 11 1/2 lengths back in last at the half-mile call, but gave a strong rally to make up ground with every stride down the lane with Cyclone State still well clear under left-handed encouragement. Omaha Omaha closed the gap in the final sixteenth, but Cyclone State held on strongly to win by 3 1/2 lengths in a final time of 1:40.82.

Omaha Omaha finished 3 1/4 lengths ahead of Ican who bested Studlydoright by a head for show. Mansetti, Georgia Magic and Enduring Spirit completed the order of finish. McAfee, who was reported as having a "small leg infection" by trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr., was scratched.

Summers said the race unfolded as he anticipated.

“We thought Enduring Spirit would put pressure on us, and we thought if Enduring Spirit was going to go all out then sit, but Enduring Spirit was on our throatlatch and didn't really pass us,” Summers said. “The fractions were not crazy fast - obviously tough to tell on this kind of track, but I thought Luis did the right thing holding his position at that point and that horse backed up and it was just a matter of holding off the late runs of Ican and Omaha Omaha and he was able to do that.”

Rivera, Jr. said Cyclone State was able to settle on the lead when moved well outside rivals.

"I break trying to go to the lead, then I saw the number one [Enduring Spirit] going for the same thing as me,” Rivera, Jr. said. “I just put my horse like five paths outside the other horse, so my horse got relaxed a little bit, because I wasn't worried about the number one. So I let him stay there, then whenever I saw he wasn't there, I just moved to the rail and by the quarter pole I was asking him and he was there for me the whole way.

"My plan was to go to the lead no matter what,” Rivera, Jr. added. “Then when I saw another horse go, I said let me just sit off of him. The plan was to go to the lead anyways."

Summers added that Cyclone State is possible for either the nine-furlong Grade 3, $250,000 Withers [20-10-6-4-2 Kentucky Derby qualifying points] on February 1 here or the one-turn mile Group 3, $1.5 million Saudi Derby on February 22 at King Abdulaziz Racecourse.

"He's nominated to Saudi. The 'noms' come out on the 8th and I think this will get us an invitation,” Summers said. “There's a lot of things to take into consideration at this point. We're going to get him down to Florida [for now].

"We'll re-group [at Palm Meadows] and gather ourselves and see where we're at,” Summers added. “It's a good position to be in with 10 points, but obviously you need at least 40 to go where you want to go. We'll evaluate the options and make the best plan. Obviously, he likes Aqueduct and we're not going to be afraid to ship back up here."

Bred in Iowa by H. Allen Poindexter, Cyclone State is out of the Grade 3-placed Dominus mare Chanel’s Legacy and was a $70,000 purchase at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. In victory, he banked $82,500 and provided co-owner Gold Square with back-to-back wins in this event after they captured last year’s running with Drum Roll Please. Cyclone State returned $8.10 on a $2 win ticket.

Michael Gorham, trainer of the Virginia-bred and Maryland-based runner-up Omaha Omaha, said he was pleased with the late turn-of-foot the son of Audible showed after entering off two consecutive wins from well off the pace.

"I thought he ran great. He's crying for more ground,” Gorham said. “This was pretty much our only option locally, so we gave it a go and he showed he belongs. Maybe we'll come back in a month for the Withers.

"That's the way he breaks. He breaks OK. He just doesn't have natural speed,” Gorham continued. “It takes him a quarter mile to get into his stride. He's been like that since Day One. That's the way he's going to run, but he makes it up at the end.”

Live racing resumes Sunday at the Big A with an eight-race card. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Aqueduct Racetrack winter meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the winter meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.