BY GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL—St. Elias Stable’s Rated by Merit made an auspicious debut Saturday at Gulfstream Park, scoring a dazzling nine-and-three-quarter-length debut victory in the second race, a $65,000 open maiden special weight for 2-year-olds.
The homebred son of Ocala Stud stallion Battalion Runner was in full control throughout the six-furlong race, breaking sharply to take the lead and resisting pressure from odds-on favorite Forged Steel before drawing away to win under wraps. St. Elias Stable’s homebred colt ran six furlongs in 1:10.50 after setting fractions of :22.27 and :45.67 under Jesus Rios during the first half mile.
The Florida-bred colt was saddled by Michael Yates, a trainer who has achieved much success with Florida-breds, most notably graded-stakes winners, Dean Delivers, Dorth Vader and Fiona’s Magic.
“They contacted me and said they were looking for someone to train a Florida-bred in Florida,” Yates said. “I said, ‘I’d me more than happy to.’”
Yates went into Saturday’s race confident that Rated by Merit would run well on debut but was somewhat surprised by the dominant manner in which he scored over the Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Forged Steel, a son of red-hot first-crop sire Vekoma.
“I didn’t feel like he was at that spot. I felt like he would run to his works and run really well, because he showed he can run early on. I’ve been a little conservative with him. I didn’t want to overdo it,” Yates said. “It was visually impressive.”
Rated by Merit paid $6.60 to win.
He is out of Banner Waving, by Speightstown and earned $40,000 for the victory. Rated by Merit is eligible for $1.2 million FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes series of 2-year-old races to be run later this summer at Gulfstream Park.
Battalion Runner was campaigned by Vinnie Viola’s St. Elias Stable and Teresa Viola Racing Stables. The son of Unbridled’s Song broke his maiden at Gulfstream in December 2016 in his second career start before coming right back to win an optional claiming allowance. He went on to finish second in the 2017 Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct.
“We’ll see how he comes out of this and meet with the owner and map out a plan,” Yates said.
