Favorite takes Mario’s Logs Challenge

St. Agur(IRE) rewrote history, being the first favorite to ever capture a victory in the Mario’s Logs Challenge. He couldn’t have asked for a better setup, and when the deeper closers didn’t fire, he waltzed home with the win. This is the sixth win in twenty two starts for the four year old colt, and his first win in stakes competition. The win boosts his lifetime earnings to the $177273 mark, as he grabbed the lion’s share of this purse. He also captured the honor of breaking the top 100 in the Older Turf Classic division, with the stakes win moving him to 99 on the rankings chart. Though the favorite did manage the win, payouts were still good at the betting window, with the winner paying $10.40 $5.10 $3.70 across the board. Exotics were much better than others recently, as well, paying $50.30 in the exacta and $428.70 for those lucky trifecta pickers.

Kondor(KY) grabbed to early lead in this one, pressured hotly to the outside by Whatitsallabout(IRE) and Mt. Doom(IRE). At first call, the three were still separated by a mere three quarters of a length, nearly four up on the rest of the field. By the half, Kondor(KY) had opened up a scant length, but as they crossed the half, the early pressure was beginning to show. With Mt. Doom(IRE) fading quickly to the outside, Whatitsallabout(IRE) slid by just past third call, enjoying what was to be a short lived lead as they crossed into the stretch. St. Agur(IRE) came bearing down from five and a half out at the half, passing the flagging leaders early in the stretch. With the deeper closers failing to fire convincingly, St. Agur cruised home to a length and a half victory over second place Whatitsallabout(IRE). Kondor(KY) held on for third place, five and a half out at the wire.