Iron Orchard remains undefeated in Frizette Stakes
Iron Orchard made the grade in the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack on Saturday against a salty field of two-year-old fillies.
The New York bred daughter of Authentic impressively broke her maiden on debut by over five lengths at Saratoga this past summer. She followed up that performance with another impressive win in the Seeking the Ante Stakes, hitting the wire with an even more defined winning margin than on debut.
Not only was Saturday Iron Orchard’s first graded stakes appearance, but it was also her first appearance against open company.
Trained by Danny Gargan, Iron Orchard strayed from her typical racing tactics of leading the bunch and instead sat a patient trip under jockey Joel Rosario. She prevailed over Rileytole by a mere nose on the wire.
Iron Orchard was most recently sold for $500k at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale in April.
Rileytole, the runner up in the Frizette, lost nothing in defeat after outrunning her odds of 35-1.
Five Bars managed to round out the trifecta of the Grade 1 affair for trainer Shug McGaughey.
The Frizette Stakes is part of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Dozen bonus series.
Although the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies seems like the most logical next step in Iron Orchard’s racing schedule, Gargan is not fully committed to running her back at Del Mar on Oct. 31.
“Right now, we’ll just be happy and enjoy this. She’s done a lot this year. I told the guys before, we’ll see how it goes,” Gargan said.
Gargan is very familiar with bringing up young and precocious horses into the three-year-old spotlight.
In 2023, a full brother to Kentucky Derby winner, Mage landed in his barn—a horse named Dornoch. Dornoch ran second for the first two races of his career before graduating in a Maiden Special Weight at Keeneland in the October of his two-year-old season.
Instead of pushing the Good Magic colt into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on a tight turnaround, Gargan waited to run Dornoch in the Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct where he displayed grittiness with a win over Sierra Leone.
While Dornoch did not win the Kentucky Derby, he did come back five weeks later to wire the field in the Belmont Stakes, marking Gargan’s first Triple Crown race win.
Other races that may be up for consideration for Iron Orchard include the Grade 2 Demoiselle at Aqueduct on Dec. 6.
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Mary Rufo is a Saratoga Springs-based contributing writer in horse racing. When not at the races, she is likely watching races on her phone, refreshing the tote board on her wagering app, or scribbling down trip notes.