HALLANDALE BEACH - A brilliant debut winner seven weeks earlier, St. Elias Stable ‘s Rated by Merit offered an encore performance extraordinaire Saturday at Gulfstream Park, scoring a dominating 6 ¼-length victory in stakes-record time in the $100,000 Dr. Fager, kicking off the 2024 Florida Sire Stakes series in style.

    The Dr. Fager, a six-furlong open division for 2-year-olds sired by accredited Florida stallions, co-headlined Saturday’s program with the $100,000 Desert Vixen for fillies won earlier in the day by R Morning Brew.

    Rated by Merit made a splash in his July 13 debut, scoring by 9 ¾ lengths and running six furlongs in 1:10.55. The son of Battalion Runner earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure that was the highest produced by all 2-year-olds in the country until Ferocious, a $1.3 million yearling purchase, was credited with a 96 following his impressive debut at Saratoga two weeks later. Rated By Merit’s speed figure remains the second highest for a 2-year-old this year.

    Saturday, he returned to action with a thoroughly professional performance while running six furlongs in 1:09.45, bettering Three Rules’ 1:09.49 clocking in the 2016 Dr. Fager.

    The 2-5 favorite broke alertly from the No. 8 post position under jockey Jesus Rios to settle outside pacesetter Neoequos along the backstretch and into the far turn. Turning into the stretch, Classic of Course slipped through an opening inside Neoequos to take a brief lead into the stretch, while a three-wide Rated for Merit was asked for his kick. The Florida-bred colt, who was never far off sharp fractions of :21.73 and :44.93 during the first half-mile, responded instantly and drew off to score a comfortable victory.

    “It kind of went as I thought it would. He’s trained like he could do that. There was speed inside of him and he stalked the speed, and when it was time to run, he accelerated,” trainer Michael Yates said.

    Neoequos came back to edge Classic of Course by 1 ¾ lengths for second.

    In the aftermath of such a brilliant debut, Rated by Merit’s second career start had been widely anticipated, but Yates maintained his focus on developing the exciting prospect, who breezed four times since his first start.

    “I would say I felt like I was under a lot of pressure. The horse was doing well. I have a lot more horses that put more pressure on me than him,” Yates said. “He’s very uncomplicated. He does things very easily and he’s a fast horse. He’s one of the least complicated horses we have in the barn, so I haven’t felt a lot of pressure, honestly.”

    The Florida Sire Stakes series will continue on Oct. 19 with the $200,000 Affirmed and the $200,000 Susan’s Girl for fillies. The final leg of the series will be held on the opening weekend of the 2024-2025 Championship Meet with the running of the $300,000 In Reality and the $300,000 My Dear Girl for fillies on Nov. 30. The Affirmed will be contested at seven-furlongs, while the In Reality will be run around two turns at 1 1/16 miles.

            Yates is confident Rated By Merit will handle two turns, and said all options will be explored before deciding what’s next.

    “At the end of the day, it’s more about developing the horse. That’s the whole goal – to bring him along and develop him,” Yates said. “He’s getting quite developed.”

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