Grade-3 Mountainous Derby Recap
Trainer Super16’s wanted to prove that his 3 year old colt Arturo Fuente’s sweeping stretch running move to record his first Graded Stake victory in the Grade-2 Liar Stake 7 weeks ago was no fluke. Arturo Fuente accomplished this win in hauntingly similar fashion. Stalking the leaders early and then making a bold sweeping move around the final turn, he caught the battling front runners, trainer Kroth3’s Foggy Surf and trainer Jdtrotter’s favored colt Street Crockpot in mid stretch and won by 2 lengths while well in hand. Foggy Surf and Street Crockpot battled noses and heads apart through most of the stretch with Foggy Surf finally getting the best of the favorite several yards before the final wire. Trainer Winsalot’s colt Coach Olson proved he belongs in this Graded company with a gutty 4th place finish and trainer runnininlast’s Silverton, the 2nd choice in the betting rounded out the top 5.
RACE RECAP:
Most of the prerace conventional wisdom thought that favored Street Crockpot would grab the early lead and have a fairly easy time of controlling the pace and the stalkers and closers would have to chase him down on his own terms, however it didn’t play out that way at all. Trainer Megabps colt Ideal Kirby and Foggy Surf applied constant pressure as less than ½ length separated the 3 of them through the 4 furlong call which was contested in a very “hot” 45.88 pace. Coach Olson stalked the leaders, a comfortable 3 lengths off the pace. Trainer Broohar2’s colt Always Charming, Silverton, trainer Willyam1’s colt Overtunringthepast and the eventual winner Arturo Fuentes, running 5th thru 8th were clumped together mid pack, 4 to 5 lengths behind the lead trio. Trainer horizons6’s colt Storm Proof was last, in 11th place and could see them all from 12 ¼ lengths off the lead.
As the field hit the 6 furlong marker there were just a few changes to the pace scenario, as Street Crockpot and Foggy Surf continued to battle noses and heads apart, Ideal Kirby was now slowly dropping back and trailed the 2 leaders by 2 lengths, with Arturo Fuentes right alongside with only a neck separating them. Coach Olson and Silverton were just behind those 2 and struggling to keep up with the hot pace in front of them. Overturningthepast seemed to be fading and losing contact with the mid pack group, with none of the 4 trailers making a significant move to join the front half of the field.
As the colts hit mid stretch, Arturo Fuentes put it in another gear and benefitting from the torrid lead duel, easily overtook the still battling Foggy Surf and Street Crockpot, who slugged it out right to the final wire, with Foggy Surf prevailing over Street Crockpot by a slim length for 2nd place honors. Coach Olson hung on resolutely to finish 4th and Silverton, who just didn’t have his best game today, crossing the wire 5th.
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Race Comments: (in order of finish)
ARTURO FUENTES: hard to fault anything with his impressive back to back Graded Stake wins and boosted earnings of $775-K. Victory propels him into a possible serious Breeders Bowl challenger.
FOGGY SURF: improving colt ran an impressive race, back to back Graded Stake in the money finishes with escalating career best speed figures. First Graded Stake win can’t be too far off in his future.
STREET CROCKPOT: lightly raced favorite really battled and held together well despite constant pressure, guessing 9 furlongs is right about his distance threshold, still plenty of top flight races to come in his career.
COACH OLSON: ok, I am not too big to admit that I underestimated the gritty competiveness of Coach Olson. Loomed menacingly several lengths behind the leaders and while he didn’t catch them, he never lost contact and held off co-favorite Silverton at the wire. A real good hard knocking effort for the consistent colt.
SILVERTON: a decent even effort, but I’m sure he disappointed trainer Runninginlast, who had high hopes for a big effort from Silverton today. Seems to have become a plodding, grinding sort of runner, needs to re-establish his explosive stretch burst.
IDEAL KIRBY: applied huge pressure to early leader, tried hard to keep pace, was prominent to 6 furlongs, then a slow and steady fade through stretch.
OVERTURNINGTHEPAST: positioned in 7th mid pack early, no response when asked for best at 6 furlong call, slowly faded through stretch.
STORM PROOF: trailed the field early, still trailed by 12 lengths turning home, rallied a bit late but only passed the several dead tired runners.
A CRY IN THE NIGHT: saved ground on the rail early, but never really got involved, steady fade throughout, nipped at the wire for 8th.
PROUST: dull effort, steady fade, couldn’t keep pace throughout. Off form now, looks like he needs to regroup at a lower level.
ALWAYS CHARMING: stalked leaders mid pack early, no response when asked for his best at 6 furlong call, dead tired, empty in stretch.