**Please see attached photo of Economic Summit. Credit NYRA, Adam Coglianese. To see the race replay, visit the New York Watch website, http://www.nyra.com/nywatch/EconomicSummit.html**
Friday, October 8, 2010
Contact: Jon Forbes
jforbes@nyrainc.com
NEW YORK WATCH: ECONOMIC SUMMIT
ELMONT, N.Y. – Looking to improve your finances? Instead of hosting an economic summit, you would have been better off wagering on Economic Summit when he broke his maiden by a comfortable length yesterday at Belmont Park. With the victory, Economic Summit joins the New York watch, which profiles up-and-comers that have recently cleared the maiden ranks at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga. His page is located at http://www.nyra.com/nywatch/EconomicSummit.html.
Making his second start, Economic Summit tracked the pacesetter in second through a quarter in 23.59, forged to the front with five-sixteenths left to travel, and was chased home in the stretch by Adios Charlie, who finished 7 ¼ lengths ahead of third-place finisher Redeemed. The final time for seven furlongs was 1:23.91.
“He’s really talented and seems to be advanced for a 2-year-old,” said winning jockey Rajiv Maragh of the 5-2 second choice. “He ran seven-eighths yesterday and that definitely wasn’t his distance limitation. I’m not sure how far he is going to go, but I’m pretty sure he’ll go farther than seven-eighths.”
Economic Summit caught a large field in his debut, finishing fifth at Saratoga on September 4, with the runner-up To Honor and Serve, also a New York Watch horse, returning to break his maiden impressively this past Saturday at Belmont.
“It was a tough race for a lot of horses,” said Rick Violette, who trains Economic Summit for Seth Klarman’s and Jeff Ravich’s Klaravich Stables and for William H. Lawrence. “It was a 14-horse field and there were a lot of first-time starters. A lot of horses had problems. They actually broke OK, but then it was like bumper cars, including Economic Summit. He got broadsided on both sides. He was bumped a few times and was in the middle of the racetrack, but he still managed to close some ground.”
As a yearling Economic Summit sold for $12,000, but his current connections needed to dig much deeper into their wallets at this year’s OBS March Selected Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training to acquire the son of Malibu Moon. After breezing a furlong in 10 2/5 seconds (video), the colt attracted a top bid of $270,000.
“He looked like he was the whole package,” recollected Violette. “He was an exceptional mover, he was fast, he was really well balanced, and he looked like an athlete. Malibu Moon can get serious horses, so we stepped up and paid a lot of money for him.”
According to Violette, Economic Summit could make his next start in an allowance race or in the Grade 2 Nashua at Aqueduct on November 6.
Bred in Florida, Economic Summit is out of Summit Lite, an unplaced half-sister to Grade 3 Crown Royal American Turf winner and $353,821 earner Strategic Partner. Their dam, Very Special Lite, won the Grade 3 Vineland Handicap at Garden State Park and set a track record for one-mile on the turf at Keeneland when she stopped the timer in 1:33.60 when capturing the Bryan Station.
Many of the industry’s brightest stars embarked upon their careers at the NYRA tracks, including a number of recent Triple Crown race winners. Super Saver, Big Brown, Jazil, Birdstone, Funny Cide, and Empire Maker are all among the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes victors that kick-started their careers at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, or Saratoga.
The list also includes recent champions Gio Ponti and Indian Blessing; brilliant fillies Flashing, Little Belle, Music Note, and Devil May Care; Quality Road, who has won three Grade 1 races so far in his career, including the 2010 Metropolitan Handicap; and this year’s Travers winner Afleet Express.
-30-
