A Vow Fulfilled

A Vow to be a Slew lived up to his name this season culminating in a victory in Saturday’s GR Simsters Classic. Trainer Willyam bred a small army of Broken Vows and this one was the best – indeed the best of all the Simster 3yo dirt routers this year (with the possible exception of Passing Stone).

As a 2yo, Vow won back-to-back races in August and October, breaking his maiden and then taking down a 1x. These performances were good enough to send him to the GR Simsters Juvy, where he ran 4th. He’d lose his next two starts, but a run in a NW3L at the end of March proved a turning point. Vow by 3 ½ lengths and was entered into the GR Simsters Kentucky Derby. In the Derby Vow scored a 2 length win over Spitfire MK I, posting his first triple digit SF with a 102. Willyam skipped the Preakness and ran back in the GR Simsters Belmont where he finished 2nd to Rockingham; still he put up another 101 SF. This led to a berth in the Smackdown series and A Vow to be a Slew proved to be a monster posting a 106 SF and winning by almost 3 lengths. Following a disappointing run in the Travelers Stakes, Vow ran 2nd in the GI LA Derby. This led to Saturday’s GR Simsters Classic.

The race began with Sky High Chateau the unlikely front-runner over Horatio Nelson. Sky High Chateau was a former claimer running for MTK who would run a heroic race. Sky High and Horatio Nelson would follow each other around the track with no pressure from the field, in fact at the halfway point, A Vow to be a Slew was 13 lengths behind the two leaders. He slowly started to make his move and then unleashed a determined drive in the stretch. Specimen X and Dragonstone tried to go with him but he was moving in a different gear. Horatio did not have enough to make a run and Sky High Chateau gave way as Vow streaked past the wire in 2:01 flat with a 109 SF. This win pushed Vow past the $1 million mark in career earnings and will no doubt serve as a springboard to future glory. Those who watched him run this year will not easily forget the impact he made on the Simster 3yo Classic division.