Future Is Now Edges Roses for Debra in Intercontinental

Future Is Now (between rivals) prevails in a tight finish in the Intercontinental Stakes at Saratoga Race Course

Under an unsettled Saratoga sky, R. Larry Johnson’s homebred Future Is Now  earned her first graded stakes win in the $200,000 Intercontinental Stakes (G2T), edging favored Roses for Debra  in a photo finish.

Minutes after a downpour and high winds passed through Saratoga Race Course June 7, nine fillies and mares lined up for the 5 1/2-furlong race run over a firm Mellon Turf Course but one dampened by the rain. Breaking alertly under jockey Paco Lopez, the 4-year-old Future Is Now ceded the early lead to Kaufymaker , sitting just a length behind her up the backstretch, with odds-on Roses for Debra another length back, running the early fractions in :21.76 and :44.24.

Coming into the stretch, Future Is Now matched Kaufymaker stride for stride while Roses for Debra began her customary late run on the outside. A stubborn Kaufymaker refused to yield, and the three hit the wire in a photo finish, with Future Is Now prevailing by a head, followed by Roses for Debra with Kaufymaker a neck behind, stopping the timer in 1:01.35. Future Is Now paid $22.80.

Completing the order of finish were Gal in a Rush , Run for the Hills , Spicybug , Lady Milagro , Medalla Match , and Everyoneloveslinda . Love Reigns  was scratched. 

“This filly has learned to sit off of horses and run when she’s needed,” trainer Mike Trombetta said. “It’s really changed things for her. We came in here with expectations just to run well. But to win it is extraordinary. 

“I was concerned when I saw the weather roll in before the race. I thought the storm would really tear up the place and be a problem. But she handled it (the course) good. The little bit of water didn’t hurt her.”

Future Is Now is a fourth-generation homebred for Johnson, who also bred Mindframe , the 7-2 second choice in the morning line for the Belmont Stakes (G1). By the perennial top stallion in Maryland, Great Notion  , the bay filly is out of the Bernardini mare Past as Prelude . The winner is half sister to the current stakes winner and the grade 2-placed Call Another Play  (Audible  ) and the multiple stakes-placed Continentalcongres  (Constitution  ), both with earnings of more than $200,000.

Johnson watched the race from his home in Virginia.

“It was too complicated to get (to Saratoga),” he said. “Trying to get family there, the limits on seats, the hotels … it just got to be too much. But the horse doesn’t know where I am, and we’ll have a party at the farm tomorrow. I was sitting in my living room alone, screaming as loud as I could.”