Making his seasonal debut Saturday, the now 4-year-old Magnitude (Not This Time) looked every bit the classy individual he was as a 3-year-old, beating up on an overmatched field to take down the GIII Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn Park Saturday.
Last year’s winner of the GII Risen Star and the GII Clark prepped for bigger things to come Saturday as the 4-5 favorite but had to deal with a pesky second choice in Nu What’s New (Munnings) who rocketed into the race off a 12 1/2-length performance facing local allowance runners Feb. 5.
Drawn to the outside with greys Gould’s Gold (Goldencents) and 3-1 shot Sandman (Tapit) both to his right, Magnitude was away in good order and went right along to challenge the early speed of Nu What’s New who was most comfortable up front. The top pair, sitting just a head apart, lead a more bunched field in their wake with both Woodcourt (Ransom the Moon) and a keen Echo Again (Gun Runner) needing to steady hard off of heels in the opening quarter.
Always seeming comfortable under Jose Ortiz, Magnitude stayed poised just off Nu What’s New through the half in :47.38 as a four-wide wall of horses tried to break out behind them. But even as his rival came under a ride turning for the line, the favorite had yet to be asked and, when the time came, had more than an ample response to surge clear to the solo lead through the final sixteenth. Nu What’s New was an easy second with Gould’s Gold also a comfortable third in a final time of 1:42.10.
“Horse has always had a tremendous amount of talent, but I think today is his best performance to date,” said trainer Steve Asmussen.
Ortiz elaborated, saying: “Beautiful. Great to see him today making his 4-year-old debut. I think the pace was fast and the closers couldn’t even get close. I think the other horse (Nu What’s New) ran a very good race as well. Today, I think he was stepping up a lot in competition. There’s not much to say. It was beautiful to see. He broke well, relaxed and he punched home.”
All things equal, Magnitude is expected to make his next start in the G1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan Mar. 28.