Kent Stakes (Grade 3)- $200.000 Purse
DEL- For Three Year Olds
One Mile and One Eighth on the Turf
July 15, 2017

Forty percent of the field in the Kent Stakes walks away with a win, as after nine furlongs, there was no separating Devil Six and Ingrained at the wire. In the five horse field, those two can call themselves winners. The Maxmillion Farm trained Devil Six and Mb Stables’ Ingrained ran with each other over much of the entire distance, pulling away from the rest of the field right out of the gate, and essentially making this a two horse race from start to finish. A Cintron was the winning jockey for Devil Six, while R J Albarado rode Ingrained. For each of them, it is their first time riding a winner in the Kent Stakes. Maxmillion Farm is a first time winner of the race, while Mb Stables wins it for the second year in a row. Congratulations to each of our winners! The time of the race was 1:45.52, the third quickest in the history of the stake. Let’s take a look at it!

(½ Mile- :47.06)- Right out of the gate, this became a two horse race. Both Devil Six (Maxmillion Farm) and Ingrained (Mb Stables) broke well from the start, pulling away in the chute that led to the main track, and as they moved down the frontstretch. They were going at one another pretty good around the opening turn, and as that was going on the gap to the third place horse would grow and grow. At the time they reached a half mile in just over 47 seconds, the gap was nearly a full five lengths to the next closest competitor. That would be in the form of Criminal Enterprise (Hambletonian Stable), and his stablemate was right beside him, and both of them were relatively unhurried. Sweep The Ravine (Smokey Stover) trailed by six and a half.

(Six Furlongs- 1:10.09)- As the field moved down the backstretch, Devil Six and Ingrained are matching each others stride. If you picked many random spots along the backstretch, you probably would have gotten many other dead heat photos as well. It was a good race between the two of them, but you just had to wonder how much longer it was going to last. As far as the rest of the field is concerned, there was no urgency at all from anyone else in the field to cut into this gap, and the top two would even extend their lead to almost a full six as they moved into the turn. It was very uneventful back there.

(Top of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- It’s still Devil Six and Ingrained on the front end. As they hit the top of the stretch, Devil Six might have a nose in front of Ingrained, but there was still nothing separating these two. It had been a two horse race from the start, and if the rest of the field was waiting for them to tire out, they were about to become very disappointed. In third now was Boer Commander, but even he was over four lengths back. Sweep The Ravine, the closer from the Pennine Ridge was still over five lengths back, and Criminal Enterprise trailed the field and did not seem to be showing much of anything.

(Finish- 1:45.52)- In the stretch, much like it had been throughout the entire nine furlongs, Devil Six and Ingrained were side by side. Neither was giving in, and they battled hard to the wire with one another. When they hit the wire, no one knew who had won, and after examining the photo it was determined that both of them did! This was a two horse race from start to finish, but I’m told there were other horses in this race. So, getting the third place check was Sweep The Ravine, but he never showed much closing kick. He gained a couple lengths in the stretch, but there was a lot more that he had to gain. Boer Commando was a neck behind, and Criminal Enterprise was a disappointment.

About The Winners:
Devil Six, trained by Maxmillion Farm and ridden by A Cintron, is a three year old gelding by Line Six, and out of Sneaky Lil Devil. He was bred in New York as a third quarter two year old by Aer Stables, and was acquired by Maxmillion Farm via Downwind Stables in private sales in February for $25.000. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his third in six career starts and his first graded stake win. His career earnings now sit at $233.690.

Ingrained, trained by Mb Stables and ridden by R J Albarado, is a three year old gelding by Decima and out of the late Spanish Dominator. He was bred in Ontario by Mb Stables as a first quarter two year old, and they have been together throughout. This was his first race after the geld. Congratulations to the connections! The win in his 4th in nine career starts, and his first graded win. His career earnings now sit at $212.560.

Track: Firm
Time: :47   1:10   1:33²  1:45²

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 2 – 4 Paid 5.00, 4 – 2 Paid 6.40
$1 Trifecta: 2 – 4 – 5 Paid 6.10, 4 – 2 – 5 Paid 6.40

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES