Successful Dan continued his successful return to racing this afternoon at Churchill Downs, wearing down Fort Larned to win the $300,000 Alysheba Stakes (gr. II) in impressive fashion.
Ridden to victory by Julien Leparoux, Successful Dan settled into the fifth position early on as Plutonium set a moderately quick early pace of :23.47 and :47.02. Fort Larned was racing right behind him in second, followed closely by Nates Mineshaft and Mucho Macho Man. Colizeo was next, followed by Apart and Golden Yank.
As the field rounded the far turn, Fort Larned moved up to take over the lead from a tiring Plutonium, with Mucho Macho Man following him into contention. But moving strongest of all was Successful Dan, who was sweeping past horses on the far outside.
Turning into the homestrech, Fort Larned turned back Mucho Macho Man's bid and kicked clear of the field. But Successful Dan continued to close in on the far outside, wearing down his rival inside the final sixteenth of a mile to win by three-quarters of a length. The final time for a mile and a sixteenth was 1:41.04, eclipsing the previous track record of 1:41.27 set by Brass Hat on July 8th, 2007. Mucho Macho Man finished third, while Golden Yank rallied for fourth.
Successful Dan is a lightly raced colt trained by Charles Lopreski. He finished first in the 2010 Clark Handicap (gr. I) before being disqualified to third. After going to the sidelines with a suspensory injury, he returned last month to win an about seven-furlong allowance race at Keeneland. Today's victory was the first official stakes win for Successful Dan since the Fayette Stakes (gr. III) at Keeneland in 2010.
-Keelerman
No comments:
Post a Comment