I will start out with he has been one of my favorites from the day we purchased him in Ocala. He came in and he was immature and did not focus on his job but I was adamant that the ability was there and slowly but surely he progressed. We took our time with him which, was very difficult but we put him through the tests before he debuted and it paid off. He has gotten better with every start and just missed last time in a competitive field at the Spa. Admittedly he got a near perfect trip once he settled in behind horses but it was nice to see him relax off the bridle and engage when the running started. He managed to hold off everyone except the Chad Brown runner. He came out of that race is great order and we pointed to this spot immediately. Setna should love the extra ground as he is a big grinder that does not have a big turn of foot but he gets going and keeps going. What I like most is that he has improved both visually and from a figures standpoint both things I think are important. He final breeze can be seen below. He got faster at every pole and started out very relaxed and kicked home to finish up in 11 and change.
Looking at the field as a whole, I feel like we are bringing the right cards to the table. He has trained great to this point and I like that he has shown us the ability to relax in the AM and PM. In his KEE race he drew outside and somehow made it to the rail but he has to play tetris all the way to the wire and hit a bunch of little holes along the way and never got to stretch his legs. James should be able to pick his path with the outside draw as he has shown to be fairly handy of late and get himself involved. I would expect the outside runners to take back and that gives us the ability to see how the break inside of us and decide what we want to do. All James as to do from there is take a long hold and pick him up as they go. The long stretch should give him all the time he needs to get rolling. As an improving three year old he gets the weight break from the older horses who have been stuck at this level for a while as well. We as a team are excited for this one!
You’ve done a great job with this colt. We own the younger brother by Nyquist who is coming along in California as well as the half sister by More Than Ready who is in foal to Thousand Words. The dam has thrown nothing but gorgeous foals but Setna looks like he has both the talent and the looks. Will be watching Sunday with much interest. All the best.
We’ll be rooting him home from the tailgate area!