GRADE-1 STAND BROKE – RACE RECAP

It didn’t take long for trainer wharfside’s 5-year-old G’DAY to establish that he’d be the horse everyone else would be chasing. G’DAY shot like a bolt of lightning from the gate and by 4 furlongs he was 3 1/4 lengths his closest pursuer trainer appalachia’s WASH RINSE REPEAT. A large group of 5 runners occupied 3rd thru 7th, trainer rdyplyr1’s RAZOR CREST, trainer grassman’s ANGASTON, trainer stkilda’s I JUST AM, trainer sedation0’s THE PERFECT LAP and 7th was trainer given7’s DIABOLICAL TALONS, they were all between 5 1/2 and 6 furlongs behind G’DAY.

As the field entered the stretch with 1 furlong to run, there were significant changes to the runnung order and distance gaps. G’DAY still had a 2-length lead but that lead was quickly diminishing. WASH RINSE REPEAT was still 2nd, but DIABOLICAL TALONS had moved into 3rd from 7th and was only 1/2 length from 2nd. THE PERFECT LAP was now 4th, up from 5th, trainer fromtheu’s EXETHAMBTHSAN had rallied from 9th to be 5th. From far back trainer mightyforego5’s GALILARYAS was in 8th, trainer redhill25’s UNHEALTHY moved into 10th and both were charging hard to reach contention.

At the finish line it was the rallying stretch runners who carried the day, DIABOLICAL TALONS easily ran by the tiring early leaders to win by 1 3/4 lengths. Hard charging GALILARYAS had rallied all the way from 11th early to grab place money, THE PERFECT LAP couldn’t hang with the winner but managed to hang tough in the stretch for the show. The final money finishers were UNHEALTHY 4th and EXETHAMBTHSAN 5th, none of the top-5 early leaders were able to hang on for a purse reward.

The win was the first Graded Stake win for DIABOLICAL TALONS and it helped push his lifetime earnings over the $725K mark.

RACE CHART w/comments … in FINISH order:

DIABOLICAL TALONS … mid pack early, reserved to 5 furlongs, steady determined stretch drive comfortable win

GALILARYAS … rear mid-pack early, flew past 6 runners in furious stretch rally, fastest at finish line

THE PERFECT LAP … mid pack early, moved with winner but couldn’t keep stride, gamely hung on for 3rd

UNHEALTHY … rear pack early, still 10th entering stretch, strong late rally, just missed 3rd by a head

EXETHAMBTHSAN … rear mid pack early, reserved until 6 furlongs, steady stretch gain to earn 5th at wire

G’DAY … early leader, set all the early fractions, opened 3 lengthy lead, tired badly mid-stretch

MY BOY CASPER … mid pack early, steady late gaining rally but never reached contention

WASH RINSE REPEAT … stalked the early pace in 2nd, willingly kept pace to 5 furlongs, gave ground grudgingly

NUKE SITE ALPHA … broke 13th early, rallied late, gained several lengths and positions, needed another furlong

ANGASTON … lead pack early, even effort, pace casualty, tried hard but slowly faded late

VERY FUNNY B … broke slow 14th early, slow steady gain to finish, never reached contention

RAZOR CREST … stalked pace in 3rd early, in the hunt to 4 furlongs, no stretch response faded late

I JUST AM …  stalked pace in 5th early, lost contact after 4 furlongs, faded badly final 2 furlongs

BEAUTIFUL VAR … rear mid pack early, never threatened, slow steady fade to rear