The Stymie- $125.000 Purse
AQU- For Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Inner Dirt
March 13, 2016

When Dullahan is on top of his game, he can be as good as anyone. Heading into this season, he had showed flashes of doing what he did today, it has just never been done on a consistent basis.  After today, trainer Crazy Horse Racing will not only be celebrating winning this race, but may have more optimism then they have had previously had that their talented colt may have turned the corner to becoming a more consistent racehorse. After all, Dullahan has now strung back to back wins together for the first time in his career. In the process, he stymied the filly beating the boys bid of Memorandum, and won the event in a time of 1:48.18. That makes it the third quickest of the five editions of the stake. Congratulations to the connections! Let’s now look deeper at this result!

1st- 3- Dullahan (4/1)- Our eventual race winner from Crazy Horse Racing was decent out of the gate, but would end up behind them all, even briefly behind Wire To Wire as they made their way into the opening turn. During the turn, he would complete the pass of Wire To Wire, and settle into the third position, a length and a half behind Memorandum. He would remain in this spot for the backstretch trip, and as they moved into the turn, M Franco would move Dullahan to the outside of Memorandum.   The filly would make him work for the pass, but not too long after the stretch run began, he was into the second position and ready to reel in Cju. The pacesetter could do nothing to hold off this advance, and Dullahan would complete the winning pass relatively easy to his outside.   With half a furlong to go, there was nothing between him and scoring a victory, and Dullahan would cruise home, opening up a length victory in the winning time of 1:48.18.    Dullahan is a four year old by S S Reagan and out of The Breeze.    He was bred in Kentucky by Robeth as a yearling, and was claimed from the breeder by Crazy Horse Racing for $15.000 back in November 2014.    Congratulations again to the connections!

2nd- 4- Cju (2/5)- The betting favorite from Maxmillon Farm got off to a strong start. He was initially challenged by Memorandum, but that one would back off, allowing Cju to pull out to a length lead as they moved into the turn, and he would stretch this out as they moved into the top of the stretch. He set the opening half mile time in :47.83. He would not receive any pressure in the backstretch. It would be in the turn where the hoofsteps of Dullahan, and not Memorandum, would get louder and louder. Cju maintained a steady stride around the turn, and throughout the stretch run, and if it were not for Dullahan, we’re talking about him cruising to a two length victory. Nothing to be ashamed of.

3rd- 5- Memorandum (7/2)- Taking on the boys today did not go as trainer Mb Stables, as well as many others thought it would. Memorandum was initially strong out of the gate, but before they moved into the opening turn, she back off from pressing Cju too hard. She would settle in to a second position, about two lengths from the lead as they moved down the backstretch. She would be content to maintain this position behind Cju for the duration of the backstretch, the turn, and even in the stretch. In some respects, it almost seemed as though she was a synchronized shadow of Cju for the second half of the race.

4th- 1- Wire To Wire (11/1)- The entry from Choppy Inc started decently but did go to the back of the pack in the early going. Not to worry, despite his name, Wire To Wire is a closer.   However, we never really saw that close today. During the backstretch, he did not put any pressure on. When Dullahan began to make a move, Wire To Wire had nothing, and ends up disappointing on this day.

Track: Fast
Time: :47⁴  1:11¹  1:35³  1:48

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 3 – 4 Paid 7.00

Scratched: Conquest

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded