Wertheimer and Frere’s homebred Interactif made his turf debut a successful one, pulling off a 15-1 upset in the $109,500 With Anticipation Stakes (gr. IIIT) (VIDEO) Sept. 4 at Saratoga.
Interactif broke his maiden July 5 at Monmouth Park and then came back to run eighth in Saratoga’s Sanford (gr. II) on July 30. The son of Broken Vow prepped for the one-mile With Anticipation with a solid work over the Saratoga turf course on Aug. 28. That move prompted Pletcher to try the bay colt in the With Anticipation.
“It wasn’t the plan (to try him on the turf) until he worked on the grass the other day,” Pletcher said. “I thought he worked exceptionally well and he has a little turf pedigree on the bottom side. He was a colt that had shown talent, but we thought maybe we were missing a step. It’s nice when they produce the way you hoped they would.”
With Kent Desormeaux aboard, Interactif was sixth early on but quickly moved up to challenge the pace set by Mississippi Hippie, who ran the opening quarter mile in :23.87 and a half mile in :48.99. Red Rally and Zapster were closest to the leader through the backstretch.
Interactif moved into a three-wide striking position approaching the turn and easily moved by Mississippi Hippie leaving the three-eighths pole. He opened up by more than four lengths with a furlong remaining and cruised to the wire in a 4 1/4-length score. His final time over the “firm” turf was 1:41.41.
Jungle Man Scott finished second, a nose ahead of Paddy O'Prado .
“I think this is a very serious horse,” Desormeaux said. “He gave me a serious ride. When I asked him to run, he exploded. He was just floating along the course. His ears were up and he was focused. He was watching where he was going and paying attention to what was in front of him. I was fearful about him being aggressive since he was coming out of those sprint races. Todd knew he would enjoy the grass.”
Interactif was bred in Kentucky and is out of the Broad Brush mare Broad Pennant. He has earned $89,250 from three starts.
The winner paid $33.60, $12, and $5.70. The exacta (8-7) returned $152.50 and the trifecta (8-7-3) was $667.
Dean's Kitten was fourth, followed by Zapster, Golly Day, Two Notch Road, Mississippi Hippie, and Red Rally.