Courtly Banker graduates in style in $125K Rick Violette

Sackatoga Stable’s Courtly Banker dug in gamely down the stretch to get his head down over the pacesetting Fidelightcayut in Thursday’s $125,000 Rick Violette, a 1 1/16-mile Mellon turf route for New York-bred sophomores, at Saratoga Race Course.

The Rick Violette is named for the late multiple graded stakes-winning New York-based trainer, who served as President of the New York Thoroughbred Horseman's Association (NYTHA) for 10 years and was a founding member of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA).

“Rick Violette meant everything to the racing community,” said Robin Smullen, assistant to winning trainer Barclay Tagg. “He meant everything to the horsemen and the retired horses. He was a pillar of excellence. I watched him work around a horse in the paddock here one day and it was amazing to watch him work. He was an unbelievable horseman.”

Courtly Banker had twice finished second to The Big Torpedo in restricted stakes in the NYSSS Spectacular Bid in June at Belmont at the Big A and the local NYSSS Cab Calloway on July 18 last out. The son of leading New York sire Central Banker graduated in style in the Rick Violette after hitting the board in his first four outings.

Ridden to victory by Hall of Famer John Velazquez, Courtly Banker scored the win with a smart stalking trip behind the sharp-starting Fidelightcayut, who rocketed from post 2 under Jose Ortiz and marked the opening quarter-mile in 25.45 seconds over the turf rated as good after a downpour shortly before the race.

Fidelightcayut maintained his command down the backstretch and through the half-mile in 51.40 as Courtly Banker and Ez Roll raced in tandem just behind and Cable Ready watched from fourth. Rounding the turn, Velazquez called upon his charge and drew closer to the pacesetter, the top two putting daylight between them and their other six rivals.

Ortiz went to a left-handed crop once straightened for home and Fidelightcayut responded when asked for more, but Courtly Banker was bearing down on his outside and proved superior in the final sixteenth as he inched clear to cross the wire a neck winner in a final time of 1:47.36.

A valiant Fidelightcayut finished second 3 3/4 lengths ahead of Cable Ready with Russian Realm coming on late to complete the superfecta. B D Saints, who was very keen down the backstretch, Ez Roll, Elysian Meadows and Instamatic rounded the order of finish. Main track-only entrants Doc Sullivan and Land d’Oro were scratched.

Velazquez, aboard for the gelding’s last-out second in the Cab Calloway, said the writing was on the wall for Courtly Banker to graduate today.

“He had been knocking on the door to breaking his maiden. He has been very consistent and today was his day,” Velazquez said. “He powered home nicely for me and did everything I asked of him. The turf was really soft, and he didn't mind it. You just have to hope in situations like this that you get a horse who likes the ground, and he happened to today and everything worked out.”

Bred in the Empire State by John Eaton and Steve Laymon, Courtly Banker is out of the winning Shakespeare mare Courtly Lark - a half-sister to graded stakes-winner Daring Kathy. He was a $65,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. Courtly Banker earned $68,750 in victory while improving his lifetime record to 5-1-2-2 and returning $7.90 on a $2 win wager.

Jack Knowlton of Sackatoga Stable said Courtly Banker has been well worth the wait.

“It’s great. This horse we bought as a 2-year-old in training and he didn’t get to the races last year because we had to do a little surgical procedure,” Knowlton explained. “We started him in Florida, and he ran very well down there. He came up here and was second in two stallion stakes races. This race came up and we took a shot - we could have always run in a maiden race, and you’d think he’d probably be able to win that, but we are sportspeople, we took a shot. Here we are against multiple winners and Johnny V. gets the job done.”

Smullen added Courtly Banker is likely to look to an allowance next instead of a stretch out to nine furlongs for the state-bred Ashley T. Cole on September 27 at Belmont at the Big A.

"We’ll go in an ‘a other than’ hopefully about a mile or a mile and a sixteenth,” said Smullen. “He doesn’t want to go any further than a mile and a sixteenth. We’ve at least got him settled enough to do that distance. I don’t see a mile and an eighth in his wheel house."

Live racing resumes Friday at Saratoga with an 11-race card, featuring the $150,000 Skidmore in Race 2 and the $125,000 Union Avenue Handicap in Race 9. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.

Saratoga Live will present live coverage and analysis of the Saratoga Race Course summer meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule/.

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