“Good Test for Him”: After Parting Way With Tracks, Equestrian Trainer Worth $4,585,721 Shares Heartwarming Update for Horse Racing Enthusiasts

The Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity is the most extravagant horse racing event in the Keeneland equestrian community. The best trainers enter their champion runners with an ambition to clinch the victory and the honor that comes with it. The $600,000 cash prize definitely sweetens the deal for all. Winning the Breeders’ Futurity is an indication of excellence in the equestrian training community in Keeneland. But winning the event is no easy feat, as one Keeneland multi-graded stakes winner will attest.

Larry W. Demeritte has decades of equestrian training experience in Keeneland. After retiring from the life of a track star, he began training horses. His trainees have won many graded stakes, but the Breeders’ Futurity has eluded him. He found a diamond in the rough at the 2022 Keeneland September yearling sale. The majestic colt named West Saratoga was a slow runner and did not reach the winner’s circle till his fifth race. Now, Demeritte has shaped him into an absolute champion and is ready to bet his reputation on his success. Will the colt stand the test of his trainer’s faith?

Equestrian trainer confident in horse’s capability

Larry W. Demeritte has good eyes when it comes to noticing the specific traits in a horse that make him a winner. When he first saw West Saratoga at the Yearling sale, he recommended that Harry Veruchi should buy it. As an Exaggerator-sire, the young horse had a lot of potential, which Demeritte recognized immediately. Now, he is confident of the Roan colt’s agility and is optimistic that he will surpass all expectations. In conversation with Paulick Report, the famous equestrian trainer said, “The Breeders’ Futurity is a good test for him because a lot of these horses are going to wind up in the Kentucky Derby.”

West Saratoga has more than proved its mettle in the past horse racing competitions. He has already made his owners $276,815 richer with very few starts in 2023. With a whopping 33% win rate, West Saratoga is definitely a candidate for the Breeders’ Futurity trophy.

The colt first rose to prominence in the 1-mile race at Ellis Park on August 5 and since then has shown no signs of slowing down. His latest triumph came at the Grade 3 Iroquois Churchill Downs on September 16, when Demeritte also won the biggest race of his career. The special nature of the equine champion has drawn more attention and business to the trainer, who shared a titillating detail from their first meeting.

A fateful meeting

Larry W. Demeritte had not found any remarkable horse racing talents at the 2022 Keeneland Yearling Sale. He was just about to give up hope when he encountered West Saratoga on the final day of the sale. The agent Hidden Brook had listed him as Hip 4146 out of the 4,164 horses in their catalog.

Demeritte looked beyond the majestic gray color of West Saratoga and his line that connected him to 2010 Darley Alcibiades (G1) winner Wickedly Perfect. To him, the horse was more than his breeding and had unique qualities to recommend him for a purchase.

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“He was really smart around the sale ring and real attentive…You look for that in a quality horse,” said Demeritte. West Saratoga will try to repay his trainer’s trust and win the Breeders’ Futurity for him.

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