Autumn Stakes (Grade 2)- $175.000 Purse
WO- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Dirt
November 14, 2021

The post-time favorite for the Autumn Stakes would not disappoint, as the shot, Hang Around, pulled off a two length win over his four rivals. This well bred horse by Wreaking Havoc came into the race off a win in the Durham Cup, a very similar race that was run here a month ago and those who remembered that were eager to show their support to the gelding once again. He ran the race in a similar manner, too, and gives Nakamura Stables and jockey S Ryan each their first wins in the race. Congratulations to them! The race was run in a time of 1:41.16, the quickest edition of the stake since 2012. Let’s take a look!

(¼ Mile- :23.56)- Hollywood Eclipse is one of three horses that jump out to the lead, and the Nakamura Stables entry ends up being a little quicker than the others that started well after a quarter mile. He’s ahead of Mb Stables’ Burning Approval, who runs in the third lane, by half length. 30west’s Gamblin Greek was right there with them initially, but retreated to be a length or so back at this point. Running in the fourth position is our eventual winner, the Nakamura Stables trained Hang Around. For now, he lives up to his name by running on the rail and around three lengths from this stablemate. Further back, Shilin Stone Forest concedes about 5-6 lengths for Nakamura Stables.

(½ Mile- :46.95)- Completing the run around the opening turn and midway through the backstretch, Hollywood Eclipse is still the race leader and he extends his lead to a full length on Burning Approval. That one is still running fine, too, while dealing with the third lane. Gamblin Greek lost a little more ground and now has Hang Around pulling up along his inside. Hang Around continues to have a good position on the inside, with only his stablemate potentially being in the way. As for Shilin Stone Forest, he was still content to run at the back.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.7F To Go)- As we move to the top of the stretch, Nakamura Stables had to be very happy with the way things were shaping out. His pacesetter, Hollywood Eclipse was still running well, and had put away Burning Approval. Gamblin Greek was dropping further back, and Shilin Stone Forest still had a lot of ground to make up. Only horse in the field was gaining on Hollywood Eclipse, and that was the one also wearing his silks in Hang Around. That one stayed on the rail for the final turn, but once it was time to make a stretch run, his jockey S Ryan prepared him to move to the outside to his stablemate. He was now within a length of completing this pass.

(Finish- 1:41.16)- With a furlong to go, there was a new Nakamura horse in the lead as Hang Around completed the pass quite easily, and pulled away without anyone new challenging him to get the win! The only downer for Nakamura was that Hollywood Eclipse was caught in the last stride by Shilin Stone Forest for second, though that one never concerned Hang Around. For Burning Approval, perhaps the Lukas Classic was not a throw out after all as he disappoints again, beating only Gamblin Greek.

About The Winner- Hang Around, trained by Nakamura Stables and ridden to victory by S Ryan, is a four year old gelding by Wreaking Havoc and is out of The Hanging Tree. He was bred in New York by Mb Stables as a yearling and acquired by Nakamura in the September 2020 auction for $121.010. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his eighth in 24 starts, his fifth stake win and third graded win. His career earnings are now $701.990.

Track: Fast
Time: :23²  :46⁴  1:10²  1:41

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 2 – 4 Paid 19.10
$1 Trifecta: 2 – 4 – 1 Paid 62.00

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES