Eight huge G1 races this past week favorites ruled most of the day and dominating performances highlighted the day. No one was probably more impressive than Ermington Pegasus this week. <\/SPAN>\u00a0<\/P> Race: 3168.5115 <\/B> Ermington Pegasus. The name says it all. He continued his dominance of his division by smoking this field by five lengths. This field included three eclipse winners, a couple of past winners of this race and all the top runners in his division. You got the feeling as this field was rounding into the stretch it was going to be a close race. Pegasus was well off the early pace nearly thirteen lengths back. <\/P> He was still nearly seven lengths off the front runner entering the stretch but when he accelerated in the stretch it was clear not one runner in this field and maybe in the sim world can hang with this guy. He was toying with them on his way to the wire, winning by the largest margin of victory in the Sand Castle Classic\u2019s history. \u00a0\u00a0<\/SPAN><\/P> The true race here was for second. Sensatious stalked the early pace from third. From there he made a solid move into second starting to run down the pace setter but it did not matter. When Pegasus flew by him he continued on strongly to out last New Found Cyclone, Armed With Money, and Intergalactic for second. New Found Cyclone stalked from fifth in the early going and made his bid for second in deep stretch but he could not make up all the ground on Sensatious. <\/P> Armed With Money is the older filly. She is a deep closer and was more than fifteen lengths off the early pace. She was flying late but she never threatened the winner. He late flying style was good enough to finish fourth five and three quarter lengths behind the winner. Intergalactic stalked from sixth and lost the fourth place spot at the wire to Armed With Money. He settled for fifth also five and three quarter lengths behind the winner.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>\u00a0<\/SPAN> Strong Belwas proved to be the speed of the speed. He quickly left the gates and set an uncontested but solid early pace. He was clear by three lengths at the half way point and by more than five at the top of the stretch. From there he maintained a steady pace with no kick and that allowed Total Chaos was a long shot at 15-1. He stalked the early pace and made a move into contention at the top of the stretch. He steadily gained on Strong Belwas although had no response when <\/SPAN>\u00a0<\/P> Race: 3168.5114 <\/B> Kepler Berzerk proved current form means a whole lot. For Berzerk it had been a long time since he was competitive at the graded level. He had been knocking around at the listed level recently but running very well. Today he stepped up and delivered the upset over Seeking Sal. He was thirteen lengths off the early pace but he made up a bunch of ground around the turn for him sitting just under six lengths behind the pace setter at the top of the stretch. Form there he continued his run passing Seeking Sal in deep stretch to win by two and a quarter lengths. <\/P> Seeking Sal ran his race stalking from fourth in the early stages not too far off the early pace. When asked he responded moving up and taking the lead near the top of the stretch. Today that would not be enough. He continued to run strong but had no response when Kepler Berzerk moved by him. He finished a very good second two lengths behind the winner. <\/P> Mannart Tornado stalked the early pace from second. He took the lead at the top of the stretch although it was short lived. He could not match strides with the top two in the stretch settling for third. He finished up five and a half lengths behind the winner.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>\u00a0<\/SPAN>\u00a0<\/SPAN> Look out all you sprinters Casterly Rock (IRE) looks like he did as a three year old and that is bad news for his division. Casterly Rock turned in another spectacular performance winning by a length and a quarter. That is his fourth win in a row and the streak includes the Breeder\u2019s Bowl Sprint. He settled nicely off the early pace stalking from fourth a little more than three lengths off the pace. From there he moved into second and easily ran down the pace setter while holding off the rest of the field. <\/P> Samoth was mid pack early in the race more than five lengths off the early pace. When asked he picked up the chase and was following Casterly Rock through the pack. He continued his chase through the stretch but could not make up any ground on the winner. This was his second finish in the top two in his last three races at the G1 level. <\/P> Looking For More was next to last in the early stages more than ten lengths off the early pace. That is a long way back against runners like this but still he unleashed a big closing kick. He went from eleventh to third in a blink of an eye through the stretch to finish third just a length and three quarters behind Casterly Rock. <\/P> Race: 3168.0615 <\/B> Bush Wins Again takes down a very classy group of fillies and mares. Bush earned her second graded stakes win in a row and moves up in the rankings. She pressed the early pace only a half length off the pace setter at the half way point. From there she forged to the lead building a two and a quarter length lead entering the stretch. She made that stand up all the way to the wire finishing up strong to win by two and a quarter lengths. <\/P> Master and Command (IRE) was mid pack early four lengths off the early pace. When asked she moved up and was third entering the top of the stretch. She made steady progress in the stretch gaining a little ground on the winner but in the end it was not enough to threaten. <\/P> K\u2019s Joan Bach was one of the favorites and she found her self near the back of the pack although she was only about seven lengths off the early pace. You knew she was in trouble when she had not passed a lot of runners and was still tenth at the top of the stretch. She passed all her tiring rivals in the stretch making up a little ground on the winner to finish third.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>\u00a0<\/SPAN> Biting Insects gets his first route win taking advantage of all the big guns being in Privileged was near the back of the pack early more than nine lengths back. Form there he moved up to seventh at the top of the stretch but he was only a little more than three lengths from the leaders. He made a solid bid through the stretch but could not catch the winner finishing second by a length and a half. <\/P> Fly for Buda hits the board again in another graded race this year. He stalked the early pace and had taken the lead at the top of the stretch. He just did not have it in him to hold off the top two through the stretch all though it was not from a lack of effort. He held third finishing three and a quarter lengths form the winner. \u00a0<\/SPAN><\/P> Race:3168.0515 Explosive Bet Stakes<\/SPAN> – Grade I – $500,000 The odds makers knew what they were doing as the top two favorites finish one two with Sip of Saki earning another impressive win. Saki is in a groove that has now seen him run back to back big speed figures while winning back to back graded races. Normally he is a mid pack, middle closer type but today he found himself stalking from fourth. He was only three and a half lengths off the early pace and when asked he swallowed up the pace setters and stretch out to a three length lead entering the stretch. From there he was never threatened staying on well to win by two lengths. <\/P> New Storm was sitting tenth in the early stages here nine lengths off the early pace a little closer to the pace than usual. From there he made a solid move to the front a winning move on most other days. He was fifth entering the stretch five lengths from Saki. He made up three lengths in the stretch but never threatened while finishing second four and a quarter lengths in front of the third place finisher. <\/P> Streets of Fire (IRE) was mid pack in the early stages. He was only a little more than six lengths off the early pace. He moved into contention around the turn for home moving into third. From there he persevered to finish third six and a quarter lengths behind the winner and another four lengths in front of the fourth place finisher. \u00a0<\/SPAN><\/P> Race: 3168.5415 How Are You Gentlemen Cup<\/SPAN> – Grade I – $500,000<\/B> Dahliyev powered her way to an upset as she continues to show dramatic improvement. At ten to one she was an outsider although she had run second in a G1 before this event. Her speed figures were on the lower side when compared to the favorites but that did not matter this day. She was tenth early but she might as well have been stalking because she was less than six lengths behind the pace setters. She moved up around the turn for home and pounced on the leaders in the stretch. She went by them before they knew what happened on her way to a two length victory of Breeder\u2019s Bowl Juvenile Filly Turf winner Urban Quest. <\/P> Urban Quest was ahead of the winner in the early stages sitting in eighth position. She encountered a little traffic around the turn for home and that meant she was chasing Dahliyev instead of trying to hold her off. Urban Quest moved well through the stretch but did not threaten the winner while finishing second. <\/P> Favorites Dominate Ermington Pegasus Super Impressive<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":255,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/255"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Track:
Restrictions: All horses, 4 years old and up
Distance: A mile and one quarter on the Dirt<\/P>
\u00a0<\/SPAN>
Race: 3168.5113 Sand Castle Golden Turf Classic<\/SPAN> – Grade I – $2,000,000
<\/B>Track: Dubai
Restrictions: All horses, 4 years old and up
Distance: A mile and one half on the Turf<\/P>
Track:
Restrictions: All horses, 4 years old and up
Distance: A mile and one eighth on the Turf<\/P>
Race: 3168.5112 Sand Castle Golden Sprint<\/SPAN> – Grade I – $1,000,000<\/B>
Track: Dubai
Restrictions: All horses, 4 years old and up
Distance: Six furlongs on the Dirt<\/P>
Track:
Restrictions: Fillies and mares, 4 years old and up
Distance: A mile and one sixteenth on the Dirt<\/P>
Race: 3168.0614 Oaktree Handicap<\/SPAN> – Grade I – $750,000<\/B>
Track: Arkansas
Restrictions: All horses, 4 years old and up
Distance: A mile and one eighth on the Dirt<\/P>
<\/B>Track:
Restrictions: All horses, 4 years old and up
Distance: A mile and one eighth on the Turf<\/P>
Track:
Restrictions: Fillies and mares, 3 years old
Distance: A mile and one sixteenth on the Turf<\/P>