No surprises in the Angel Cordero Jr.

There were no surprises at all in the Grade 1 Angel Cordero Jr. at Vermont. Xtremely Gold and Sacrilege proved they are in a group by themselves, easily outclassing the rest of the field. Xtremely Gold got to the lead with about three furlongs to go and stayed without any problems for a five a three quarter lengths victory over Sacrilege, who was a clear cut second. The time of the race was a very good 3:00:3 for the mile and three quarters over the fast main course.

At the start, it was the game Murf’s Sharkattack, Hardly Soaring and Suggy Buggy, who went for the lead and established an honest pace for the long trip. The winner was sitting in a comfortable fourteenth place, just waiting for the leaders to fade. This materialized, and the inevitable happened, with Xtremely Gold and Sacrilege taking the best part of the speed duel. The luke warm favorite, Mareira, was close to the pace early on, but then tired and came in a disappointing tenth place.

The winner is by Touch Gold out of an Unbridled mare, and improved her record to 19-13-4-0, with career earnings of $1,668,690 for trainer grracers, and returned a very juicy $16.80 to her backers.