He wasn't quite as impressive as he was when winning the American Turf Stakes (gr. II) last month, but Banned got the job done in the Jefferson Cup Stakes (gr. III) this afternoon at Churchill Downs.
Sent off as the 1-5 favorite against only three opponents, the son of Kitten's Joy broke cleanly and was sent up by jockey Jose Lezcano to track the early pace set by 8-1 shot Redboard. Perregaux was back in third, followed by Benergy in last. Only a couple of lengths seperated first from last.
Through moderate fractions, Redboard continued to show the way while Banned was keen to go on. Turning for home, Lezcano asked him for run and he accelerated past Redboard to take a commanding lead.
Perregaux and Benergy gamely gave chase, but Lezcano looked back confidently in the stretch and never really asked Banned for too much run. The colt drew away in the stretch to win by a few lengths, stopping the clock for the mile and a sixteenth in 1:43.66.
Benergy outclosed Perregaux for second, while Redboard faded to finish last.
-Keelerman
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