Mr. and Mrs. Jerome S. Moss’ SPELLBINDER (Tale of the Cat) set the pace and
dug down deep to register a neck victory in Monday’s $150,000
Berkeley
H. (G3) at Golden Gate Fields. Sent to the lead out of the gate by jockey
Roberto Gonzalez, the five-year-old dark bay led through splits of :22 4/5, :46
and 1:10 1/5 with Distorted (Distorted Humor) closely in tow. Sharp Writer
(Capote), who had been rating off the pace, then made his move and loomed boldly
in midstretch, drawing virtually level with the leader. Spellbinder refused to
surrender, however, and fought back to secure the win, forcing Sharp Writer to
settle for second. Spellbinder completed the 1 1/16-mile affair in 1:43 on the
fast track.
Sent off as the 6-5 favorite, the Richard Mandella-trained winner
returned $4.40, $3.40 and $2.40 while leading $1 exotics of $10.60 (exacta),
$82.90 (trifecta) and $249.60 for the 1-7-2-8 superfecta. Sharp Writer gave back
$4.40 and $2.60 for the place at close to 6-1, while Cooperation (Halo’s Image)
raced in third throughout and paid $3.80 for the bronze position at 12-1.
Distorted faded to fourth. Trailing him were Texcess (In Excess [Ire]), who
was unable to overcome stumbling badly at the break, and Attack Force (Patton). Gotaghostofachance
(Silver Ghost) and Keep on Punching (Silver Deputy) were scratched from the
contest.
Bred in Kentucky by James Jones and purchased for $375,000 at the 2002 Keeneland September
Yearling Sale, Spellbinder is out of the winning mare Thorough Fair (Quiet
American), making him a half-brother to 2002 Futurity S. (G1) hero Whywhywhy
(Mr. Greeley). Thorough Fair’s latest foals are an unnamed yearling filly by
Vindication and a 2006 colt by Giant’s Causeway.
This was Spellbinder’s second graded stakes victory this season, having
captured
the San Antonio H. (G2) in February. He increased his earnings to $466,057
and improved his career line to 23-6-2-4.