EquiSport Photos
'He Made It Look Simple': Federal Judge Cruises By 5 1/2 Lengths In Phoenix
WinStar Farm and Siena Farm's Federal Judge made short work of Friday's Grade 2 Phoenix Stakes on opening day at Keeneland, going straight to the front and never relinquishing his lead to win by a final margin of 5 1/2 lengths. The 4-year-old gelding son of Army Mule earned an expenses-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Sprint with his victory, where he could be joined by Mullikin, last-out frontrunning winner of the G1 Forego owned by the same partnership.
Federal Judge, ridden by Flavien Prat for trainer Brad Cox, set fractions of 21.62 and 43.97 seconds en route to a final time for six furlongs of 1:08.20 over the fast track.
"He made it look simple," Prat said. "He broke very well today. I was a bit worried with (breaking from) the one (post), but he broke sharp and got himself into the race and did the rest. I thought he was going a good clip, but he was comfortable and he was at ease.”
Federal Judge is out of the winning Congaree mare Congarette, and brought $200,000 as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select sale in 2021. He didn't debut until his 3-year-old season, but won his first two starts before finishing fourth in the G1 Woody Stephens. After a year away from the races, Federal Judge was second in his return, then put together back-to-back wins in an allowance and the Phoenix.
Overall, Federal Judge has won four of his six lifetime starts for earnings of $402,960.
Sent off as the 8-5 second choice, Federal Judge paid $5.48 on a $2 win wager. Favorite Nakatomi was able to close to be second over Comedy Town by a half-length, and Here Mi Song finished fourth.
Wesley Ward, trainer of the beaten favorite Nakatomi, said: “Speed was tough today. Sets us up well for the Breeders’ Cup. Sometimes you run two big races on top of the Breeders’ Cup and it will draw you back but maybe we’ll turn a negative into a positive. He ran a real credible race on a real speed-biased track."
