Mentee rebounded from a stinging loss in the Hopeful Stakes (G1) with a commanding win in the Oct. 4 Futurity Stakes (G3T) at Aqueduct Racetrack that earned the Repole Stable homebred a trip the Breeders' Cup World Championships.
The colt by City of Light out of Nonna Bella seemed poised to follow in the tracks of his full brother Fierceness, 2023's champion 2-year-old colt and multiple grade 1 winner, when he won his racing debut in June in blistering fractions. Mentee got derailed, however, by a mild case of laminitis. He recovered and started in the Hopeful but faded to sixth after stalking the pace.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said he'd seen other City of Light runners take to the grass, so the colt was aimed to the Futurity where jockey John Velazquez positioned him right off the flank of pacesetter Epitaph through early fractions of :22.38, :45.36, and :56.88. With a furlong to go, Mentee eased to the lead and then pulled away to win by 3 1/2 lengths. The final time was 1:08.82.
Donegal Racing's Gate to Wire closed in the final strides to take second by a nose over Epitaph.
"We felt the timing and the distance of this race suited him well and it put us in a position to do about anything from here. I think a lot of options open up," said Pletcher, who added the colt is more likely to end up in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) than the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T), for which the Futurity was a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In race.
"I'll talk to Mike (Repole) a little bit, but we actually talked about it before, and we thought if he ran well it would be a good bridge to the mile instead of the five furlongs. We'll see," the trainer said.
Video: Futurity S. (G3T)
La Mehana Rallies for Waya Win
The Waya Stakes (G3T), a 1 3/8-mile race for fillies and mares 3-year-olds and up was the other graded stakes on the Friday card at Aqueduct. LSU Stables celebrated a last-to-first performance in the Waya from its 5-year-old mare La Mehana, who is trained by Christophe Clement.
The French stakes winner by Al Wukair, who has been graded-placed twice in her three starts in the United States, bided her time at the back of the pack while Klaravich Stables' Idea Generation took the field through moderate fractions of :51.40 and 1:16.96. The real running didn't start until the top of the stretch where La Mehana moved up quickly and grabbed the inside route along the rail. Wathnan Racing's Immensitude did her best to challenge La Mehana, but the winner proved tougher by a neck at the wire. The final time was 2:17.64.
Godolphin homebred Beautiful Love took third, while 3-5 favorite McKulick was never a factor and Idea Generation faded to last.
"She's never showed that good of a kick before," said Clement. "So, I guess when you wait, she shows a better kick. Maybe we learned something. She was always very forward in all her races in Europe—with me, too. Today, (jockey) Kendrick (Carmouche) was very patient, he never gave up and she ran great."
