Bellamy Road’s 2-year-olds have come out running at Saratoga Race Course. Constellation turned heads with an impressive winning debut Aug. 9, and No Entiendo kicked off the Aug. 10 program at The Spa with a wire-to-wire score, giving Bellamy Road two maiden special weight winners in as many days.
LNJ Foxwoods’ Constellation, an $800,000 graduate of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March sale earlier this year, lived up to her advance billing with an auspicious 4 ½-length victory at 5 ½ furlongs.
With Irad Ortiz Jr. riding for trainer Steve Asmussen, the chestnut daughter of Bellamy Road raced just off the flank of pacesetter J La Tache through opening fractions of :22.22 and :45.88. Sent off as the race favorite, she took command in the lane when roused and forged clear late to prove the easiest of winners. She stopped the clock in 1:04.65 in her unveiling, and the facile score earned Constellation a “TDN Rising Star” designation.
The promising daughter of Bellamy Road tipped her hand at the March sale, breezing an eighth of a mile in :09 4/5 for consignor Northwest Stud. Agents Alex Solis II and Jason Litt signed for the filly at OBS on behalf of owner LNJ Foxwoods.
Bred by WinStar Farm out of the stakes-winning Not For Love mare For Royalty, Constellation, sold to Northwest Stud for $155,000 out of the Denali Stud consignment at the 2014 Keeneland September yearling. She hails from the female family of Grade 1 winners Spun Sugar and Daaher.
No Entiendo, a runner-up, beaten just a neck in his first career start at Belmont Park in July, earned his diploma second time out for owner Luis Archilla and trainer Rudy Rodriguez.
Hustled away from the gate early by Cornelio Velasquez, No Entiendo set a solid pace, getting the opening quarter in :22.61 and hitting the half-mile marker in :45.71. He led by as many as three lengths in the stretch before crossing the wire 1 ½ lengths ahead of his nearest pursuer, covering the distance in :57.80.
Bred by Fred Hertrich III out of the winning Richter Scale mare Prairie Fever, No Entiendo was acquired by Archilla for $40,000 out of the Q Bar J Thoroughbred consignment at this year’s OBS April sale. Taylor Made Sales Agency previously sold him as a short yearling for $67,000 to Machmer Hall at the 2014 Keeneland January sale.
