Freely Held ran his rivals off their feet in a 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight at Delaware Park on Friday to become the first winner for WinStar Farm’s multiple graded stakes winner Independence Hall.
Owned by Happy Tenth Stable and trained by Daniel Velazquez, Freely Held broke fastest off all at the start. He received pace pressure from his inside down the backstretch and under confident handling from Luis Ocasio, took command of the field at the quarter pole. Freely Held cruised through the lane unchallenged and reported home a 6 ½-length winner in his second lifetime start.
Bred in Kentucky by Three Lyons Racing LLC, Freely Held is out of the winning Exchange Rate mare Kept and hails from the family of Champion Sprinter Safely Kept, his third dam, and multiple graded stakes winner Venetian Harbor, graded stakes winner Partner’s Hero, and stakes winner and multiple graded stakes-placed Pool Winner.
In the auction ring this year, Independence Hall saw his first-crop 2-year-olds command much attention from buyers. He is the sire of a $1,000,000 session-topping colt at the OBS March Sale now named Rousseau; a $700,000 colt named Black Star at the OBS Spring Sale; and a $400,000 colt named Tranquillo who was bought at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
Independence Hall is from the first crop of fellow WinStar stallion and perennial leading sire Constitution. A stakes winner at two, three, and four, from 6 ½ furlongs to nine furlongs over all track conditions, Independence Hall banked $881,500 for owners Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Robert and Kathleen Verratti, Twin Creeks Racing Stables, and WinStar Farm.
A resounding 7 ¼-length winner of the 2021 Fayette S. (G2) at Keeneland, Independence Hall earned a career-best 105 Beyer Speed Figure in the impressive gate-to-wire score. In the victory, he shrugged off a challenge from multiple Grade 1 winner Code of Honor at the top of the lane and rolled to the wire to win by daylight for trainer Michael McCarthy. As an undefeated 2-year-old, Independence Hall won the first two starts of his career by a combined 17 lengths. He won a maiden special weight by 4 ¾ lengths in his career debut and jumped directly into graded company in just his second lifetime start. He set a new stakes record in the Nashua S. (G3) at Aqueduct, winning the one-mile fixture by a record 12 ¼ lengths and earning a 101 Beyer, the fastest by a juvenile that year.
Independence Hall is out of the multiple stakes-producing Cape Town mare Kalahari Cat, dam of Grade 3 winner Black Onyx, stakes winner and Graded stakes-placed Francois, and Graded stakes-placed Quality Council. He hails from the immediate family of Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) winner Desert Stormer and multiple Grade 1 winner Better Lucky.
For more information on Independence Hall, contact Liam O’Rourke, Olivia Desch, or Ben Hanley at 859-873-1717, or visit www.WinStarFarm.com.
