Grade 3 win for juvenile Verbal

Two-year-old Flintshire colt Verbal replicated his impressive debut victory with a win in the Gr.3 Cecil B DeMille Stakes at Del Mar on Sunday.

Taken from the Thoroughbred Daily News, 29th November 2021:

The bay colt was unhurried from his outside post and was well back as longshot pacesetters Groovy Huey and Get Back Goldie ran away from the field through
fractions of :22.04 and :46.10. Get Back Goldie took over entering the far turn, but the field was quickly closing in on the pacesetters. Verbal made rapid progress while four wide into the stretch and he closed relentlessly to get his nose on the line first.

"He won easy last time, but that was against maidens," said winning rider Jose Ortiz. "He was running against winners today, much better horses. I knew there would be speed in the race so, even though I had the outside post, I was able to drop over and save some ground. He came running when it counted. The boss
[trainer Chad Brown] knows how to spot a horse. He had it right today."

Verbal came from well out of it to win his debut going one mile over the Belmont lawn and that victory gave connections the confidence to pre-enter the colt in the Gr.1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. He failed to get into that race and was rerouted to the DeMille instead.