Heavily favored El Padrino wore down Mark Valeski deep in the Fair Grounds homestretch to win the $300,000 Risen Star Stakes by a desperate head.
Ridden to victory by Javier Castellano, the son of Pulpit broke cleanly and settled into the third position early on as longshot Hero of Order set the pace. Mark Valeski was racing in second, while Z Dager was content to sit fourth early on. Mr. Bowling, Shared Property, Afford, and Tizanexpense were all racing in mid-pack, while Adena's Chance, Optimizer, and Ted's Folly were the early trailers.
Hero of Order, Mark Valeski, El Padrino, and Z Dager continued to race in that order down the backstretch and around the far turn, carving out fractions of :24.44, :48.72, and 1:13.15 in the process. Then Mark Valeski moved up to take the lead and briefly spurted away, but El Padrino was charging hard on the outside and moved up to challenge at the top of the stretch. The two colts then hooked up in a thrilling stretch duel, with El Padrino emerging the victor by a narrow head. The final time for the one-mile and a sixteenth race was 1:42.96.
It was another five or six lengths back to Z Dager, who just edged out Hero of Order for third place. Shared Property, Afford, Tizanexpense, Ted's Folly, Optimizer, Adena's Chance, and Mr. Bowling completed the order of finish. The winner is owned by Let's Go Stable and trained by Todd Pletcher.
-Keelerman
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