Legitify: Post Debut Update

Legitify exited his debut in good physical order and scoped clean following the race which is a positive sign. It’s still a bit of a head-scratcher regarding his performance. As trainer Richard Mandella said, “He was training much better than that on dirt. Maybe we’ll have to consider running him back on the dirt.” It’s still a bit early to say what exactly are our next moves will be, but Mr. Mandella will go into his next start with an open mind.

By no surprise, his Beyer Speed Figure did not return anything notable. The Mandella team will let Legitify tell them when he’s ready to get back into a routine and we’ll post more updates then.

Our Take:

The clean scope is a huge relief. Sometimes youngsters just don't do well on their first out for no physical reason, but gain fitness and a better understanding what's being asked of them and perform at a much higher level in their next start. We're hoping that's the case with "Legit." Legitify broke well and led for much of the early running before he lost momentum and started to fade, being overtaken by all of his competitors to fade to last place. 

Richard Mandella is a great trainer, and we respect his opinion and his action plan on what he will do next to take this promising and extremely well-bred colt forward. 

We'll be back to edit this with race video and photos when they are available.

Legitify (Justify x Sarrocchi by Galileo)
Sporting his MRH blanket in the Santa Anita paddock

Legitify getting tacked up. Note his tongue
extension due to the tongue tie-down. This
keeps the tongue out of the way to help
with breathing or not interfering with the bit.

Legitify eyeing the crop. He clearly wasn't happy to see it.

Legitify just before jockey Kazushi Kimura mounts.
Notice the assistant trainer hiding the crop behind
his back. He handed it to Kimura once he was mounted.

Kazushi Kimura aboard Legitify.

Legitify on the rail. Eclipe horse Series (grey) beside him.
Legitify ran well on the break and early on
but tired late in the race to run 8th/last on debut. 

What appears to be a very tired Legitify post-race.
He looks to have lost a few pounds in his debut effort
which is not unusual for a young horses gaining fitness.