WinStar Farm’s and Siena Farm’s Emmanuel scored his second easy victory in as many starts in a Jan. 30 allowance at Tampa Bay Downs, setting up the 3-year-old son of More Than Ready for a potential stakes outing in his next start.
Ranked fifth in the latest TDN Kentucky Derby Top 12, Emmanuel has won his two starts by a combined 11 ¼-lengths. Sunday’s victory, at one mile and 40 yards, came in front-running style. He was not asked for run until the final sixteenth, when he responded immediately to jockey Pablo Morales’ urging, bounding away to win by 4 ½-lengths and earn a Beyer Speed Figure of 89.
“Just a class horse. I felt like I had so many gears underneath me,” Morales said. “Every time I would just move a hair, he would take off a little bit more and just do it easily. He felt [Glider] coming on the inside down the lane, so I decided to give him a little bit of a hand ride and I could feel him extending more and more.”
Emmanuel, who was bred by the Helen K. Groves Revocable Trust, sold for $350,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling sale. Out of Hard Cloth, who is a half-sister to Grade 1 winners Hawksbill and Free Drop Billy, Emmanuel has earned $50,400 in his two wins.
