by David Mattia, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

New Brunswick, NJ — This year’s winner of a $108,500 Bluegrass Stakes split, Warning Zone is a gelded son of Jate Lobell from the Topnother mare Cambridge United, and according to his trainer, Virgil Morgan, Jr., the recent acquisition of this colt was a super deal.

He’s heading into Friday’s $92,500 International Stallion Stake division at Lexington at the top of his form, and despite drawing post seven, Morgan seems pretty confident.

“I had watched him race earlier in the summer at Scioto and he caught my eye,” recounts Morgan. “He looked like a really nice horse and I was told he was for sale. Late in August (the 25th) Joe Muscara and I decided to buy him. The price was more than fair, and considering that he is staked to everything next year, the cost was not astronomical by any means. It’s working out great so far.”

Nigel Soult photo

Ron Pierce drove Warning Zone to a personal best 1:51.2 score in his Bluegrass division last week at The Red Mile.

It sure is working out great for all parties concerned, because since being purchased by Joseph Muscara of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Warning Zone has not only raked in $172,950, he’s won a couple of prestigious stakes, and taken a new mark of 1:51.2.

“After Mr. Muscara bought the horse we decided that he might be better off racing off the pace,” said Morgan. “I discussed this with Dave Palone before our first race with him. He’d won impressively the week before for his previous connections, but I thought he would be even better racing from off the pace.”

A quick glance at Warning Zone’s past performances shows him winning a Kentucky Sires Stake on the front end for driver Kyle Ater and trainer Dan Ater. Pretty much all of his starts for the Ater team seemed to be front-enders, but Virgil Morgan offered a simple explanation for that.

“When you’re a heavy favorite like Warning Zone was for the Aters, you’re pretty much forced to go on the front end or move early, and the better the horse gets the more you keep racing him that way,” said Morgan. “It’s my opinion that 2-year-olds don’t last if you keep racing them on the front end. You just wind up with a front-running horse that can’t finish.

“Off of his pedigree I thought Warning Zone might be a hot horse, but he’s not. He’s got a good mouth on him and he’ll sit in a hole. That’s made him better and will keep him better in the long run. In his first start for us we came from off the pace and he was sharp finishing. In the Bluegrass last week (Ron) Pierce kept him in for as long as he could and when he came out he was strong.

“In the Simpson a week earlier, he had to rough it up and do a little more work than he’d been doing. He got parked to the quarter in :27.2, and then when he got the lead, a horse came at him hard down the backside, but he was strong holding the horse off. He showed that he was a game horse and he held on to win that one in 1:51.3.”

“He’s a nice sized horse for a Jate Lobell. He’s long and he has a great attitude,” added Morgan. “Jate Lobell colts have a tendency to be hot, and he’s out of a Topnotcher mare and they can be hot too. Thankfully, Warning Zone is nothing like that. He’s not just a racehorse and the fact that he has a good mouth on him makes him more than just a one-dimensional horse.”

Warning Zone began his winning career in a qualifier at Pompano Park on June 15 for driver/trainer Dr. Melvyn Aylor. Dr. Aylor bought, broke and developed this son of Jate Lobell, and the colt turned out to be everything Aylor was looking for — and more.

“I bought Warning Zone as a yearling with another veterinarian, Dr. Mark Wooten,” recounts Aylor. “We went to the sale at Lexington, and the breeder (Winbak Farm) told us they had a colt who might fit into our budget. It turned out to be Warning Zone and we got him for $25,000.

“Mark Wooten and I were both resident veterinarians at Castleton Farm when they were still operating and sometimes we get a horse or two. The idea is to buy and sell, and that was the idea when we bought Warning Zone. It couldn’t have turned out better.

“I broke him at Gil Crest Training Center in Bell, Fla., which is about 30 miles west of Gainesville. To give you an idea of how rural we are down there, there is only one stoplight in the entire county, but the training center is great and we attract some good horsemen.

“Right now there’s about 180 horses stabled there and I’m on my way down to Lexington to make it 181. I’ll look to buy another yearling to develop and sell — nothing in particular in mind right now, but I think we’ll go for a filly.”

Dr. Aylor, a graduate of the Ohio State School of Veterinary medicine, describes Warning Zone as the easiest horse he’s ever broke.

“From the very first day he paced and never caused a problem. He was just perfect from day one. He was just perfect in every way. You couldn’t ask for a better horse and I don’t regret selling him because that was my intention all along. For every horse you didn’t sell, there’s about 50 that you should have. I like doing it this way, and making some money along the way is what I’m trying to do.”

Dr. Aylor has his own farm in Florida where he stands the stallions Capital Request and Mannart Howard. While foals by those stallions might not make it to the hallowed halls of Harrisburg or to the red carpet at Lexington, he seems pretty proud of them — just as proud as he is of his major contribution to the career of Warning Zone.