Becomes Stakes Winner with Popular 3 ¼-Length Triumph
BALTIMORE – West Point Thoroughbreds, David Ingordo and CJ Stables’ Reagan’s Wit, supplemented into the race off his graded-stakes debut, proved too much for the competition with an eye-catching 3 ¼-length score in Saturday’s $100,000 James W. Murphy at Pimlico Race Course.
The 60th running of the one-mile Murphy for 3-year-olds and up on the grass was the seventh of 10 stakes, five graded, worth $3.3 million in purses on a blockbuster 14-race program, headlined by the historic 150th Preakness Stakes (G1), Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.
Reagan’s Wit ($3), beaten by a neck in his last try at one mile, finished up in 1:40.25 over a turf course rated good. It was the second stakes win of the day for both jockey Jose Ortiz and trainer Cherie DeVaux; Ortiz took the $125,000 Skipat on Zeitlos, while DeVaux won the $150,000 Chick Lang with Retribution, ridden by Ortiz’s brother, Irad Ortiz Jr.
Ortiz previously won the James Murphy with Graham Motion-trained English Bee in 2019.
Reagan’s Wit settled in fifth under Ortiz, tracking Soleil Volant and 13-1 longshot Twain as Curahee took the early initiative on an uncontested lead, going a quarter-mile in 24.07 seconds as Stormy Flight gave chase. Ortiz stayed patient as the top group went changed through a half in 48.69 before moving up between horses at the top of the lane.
Ortiz and Reagan’s Wit, favored at 1-2, surged past Twain and Stormy Flight to take the lead and rolled home to his second win from five starts and first in a stakes. The chestnut son of Authentic was second by a neck to next-out American Turf (G1) winner Zulu Kingdom in the March 8 Columbia at Tampa Bay Downs and fourth as the favorite in the 1 1/16-mile Transylvania (G3) April 7 at Keeneland.
Soleil Volant wore down a stubborn Twain to get second by a half-length. It was another two lengths to Barbadian Runner in fourth followed by Curahee, Stormy Flight and Studlydoright. Mission Artemis, Clock Tower and End of Romance were scratched.
DeVaux won three stakes on Black-Eyed Susan Day to earn last year’s top prize in the annual Preakness weekend trainer bonus. Ortiz will ride Clever Again for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen in the Preakness.
The James W. Murphy pays homage to the late trainer that won nearly 1,400 races and more than 50 stakes and $24 million in purses starting in 1965. He was named the MTHA’s Trainer of the Year in 2006, three years before he died at age 82.
$100,000 James W. Murphy Quotes
Winning Trainer Cherie DeVaux (Reagan’s Wit) – (by phone): “Really pleased with him. He’s kind of a goofy horse. He showed that in the stretch. Jose did a really good job keeping him to task and staying on the horse, most importantly. We were a bit disappointed in his last race at Keeneland (fourth in the G3 Transylvania). He was quite sullen in the paddock prior to the race. He ran fine but we were expecting a bit more from him. We tried some blinkers on him after that, but he had really terrible breezes with them on, so we regrouped.
“He is a sentimental horse more than anything. He is a half-brother to (graded stakes-placed) Reagan’s Edge, who was the first one we named after David’s (husband David Ingordo) daughter to try to get her interested in all of this. But he has always shown a lot of ability. He’s taken some time. He ran a race at Ellis, then he injured himself in the trailer when he was supposed to run at Indiana, gave himself a pretty nasty wound behind. It just took him some time to get to the races, but now that he’s back, he’s slowly putting it together. I was watching him in the paddock, because he will let loose, and he was doing that. It’s kicking and bucking, but that’s him. So I was happy to see he was back to his old ways.”
Terry Finley, President of Winning Owner West Point Thoroughbreds (Reagan’s Wit) – “He came through that hole and then he started fooling around. But, as the jock (Jose Ortiz) said, it’s a lot better to have that happen and have him swerve like that as opposed to getting to the lead and stopping and then a horse comes from the back of the pack.”
Winning Jockey Jose Ortiz (Reagan’s Wit) — “He does that when he makes the lead. He doesn’t slow down and he didn’t brush the rail. He’s pretty green. I was ready for it. I knew it was coming. He switched leads on point. He did everything like a pro and opened up. I’m very excited about the way he ran today. Hopefully he matures a little after this