Saturday, February 09, 2013

Park City edges Declan's Warrior in Gulfstream allowance race

Park City, making his first start since breaking his maiden first-time out at Saratoga last summer, rallied along the rail to edge Declan's Warrior by a neck in a 6-1/2 furlong allowance optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park.

Ridden to victory by John Velazquez, Park City broke just a step slowly, and soon found himself racing along the rail in fourth place as 50-1 shot Cat Five Hurricane led the way through fractions of :22.10 and :45.30. Jay Eye See and Red Hot Randy were tracking the pace in second and third, while favored Little Distorted raced on the far outside in fifth. Declan's Warrior, John Gordon, and Dighton were the trailers.

Rounding the final turn, Cat Five Hurricane began to open up on the field, and the longshot entered the homestretch in front by about three lengths. In the meantime, Park City had stayed on the rail and was making up ground rapidly, while Declan's Warrior had threaded his way in between horses to commence a strong challenge on the outside. Coming down to the finish, any one of the three colts could have won, but the wire came just in time for Park City, who stuck his head in front of Cat Five Hurricane a few strides before the finish and held off the charge from Declan's Warrior to win by a neck. The final time was 1:17.53 seconds.

Declan's Warrior edged Cat Five Hurricane by a similar margin for second, while Jay Eye See, Dighton, Red Hot Randy, Little Distorted, and John Gordon completed the order of finish.

The winner is trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by Starlight Racing. A son of Harlan's Holiday out of the Pleasant Colony mare Light Show, Park City is now unbeaten in two starts.

-Keelerman

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