Outrageous Taj continues steady progress
Outrageous Taj (Adore The Gold – She’s Outrageous) continued on his steady growth path when he beat a good field in a Restricted Allowance event going six and a half furlongs (1,300m) last Saturday.
Ridden by Oneil Mullings, the bay gelding outsprinted rivals at the top of the lane to win, going away by over two lengths in a good time of 1:19.0, in a race which included native-bred three-year-old non-winners of two and imported three-year-old and upward maidens.
Outrageous Taj got a good break and raced in second position behind Super Sparkle (Dick Cardenas), with Isinbayeva (Dane Dawkins) and Reggae Road (Anthony Thomas) following the leader.
Approaching the five-furlong (1,000m) marker, Super Sparkle increased her lead over Outrageous Taj, but when Mullings decided it was time, the Adore The Gold offspring caught up with the leader turning for home.
With the momentum going in Outrageous Taj’s direction, the far-striding bay gelding turned on the pressure in deep stretch and ran out an easy two-and-a-half-length winner, his second win from four career starts.
Trainer Dwight Chen said that based on his charge’s sixth-place finish in the 2000 Guineas by just four lengths, he knew that O utrageous Taj would run a very good race here.
“I don’t know how good he is yet as he is still getting his act together, but I think he is a decent horse, a very decent horse. It was a good performance in the 2000 Guineas; it was his third run and he was a little bit green, but he looks a lot better now. He was a fighter today and I am happy with that,” Chen said.
As to Outrageous Taj’s chance of winning the Lotto Classic for the Governor’s Cup, Chen said that his charge should do himself justice in the 10-furlong (2,000m) event.
“I would have loved to run him a little closer before going to the Governor’s Cup, but the races are not there for him and so I ran him here. There are some good horses that are going into the Governor’s Cup — it won’t be like in the past when they called the Governor’s the ‘second-lot Derby’. It is yet to be seen if he can get the 10 furlongs or not, but let’s see what happens,” Chen told The Supreme Racing Guide.