Disarm became Gun Runner’s fifth career TDN Rising Star with a sparkling Saratoga maiden special weight win on Saturday, taking the seven-furlong affair for 2-year-olds by 6 ¼-lengths (WATCH RACE).
Disarm is owned and bred by Winchell Thoroughbreds and trained by Steve Asmussen, the same team that guided Gun Runner to Horse of the Year honors.
Disarm, with his inside post, secured his spot on the rail behind a trio of front-runners. He stalked patiently through a half-mile in :45.56 then was swung three-wide to go after the lead. He swept to the front in upper stretch and poured it on late to win going away in 1:24.51 on a fast track.
“Lots of talent–he was highly touted coming from mom and dad’s,” Asmussen said on FS2’s Saratoga Live. “High expectations. Looks like he’s gonna stretch out beautifully. We will definitely get to dream with him for a while.”
Disarm’s dam Easy Tap is also the dam of Tap Daddy, winner of Pimlico’s James W. Murphy S. and runner-up in the Dixiana Bourbon S. (G3) for these same connections. Easy Tap foaled a Gun Runner colt this year.
Gun Runner entered Saturday atop the 2022 Second-Crop Sire list leading in nearly every category, including by progeny earnings of $7.6 million. Perhaps more impressively, despite only having two crops of racing age, he is currently in the top 10 on this year’s General Sire list.
