The Bourbon Trail ($300.000 Purse)
CD- For Three Year Olds
One Mile and Three Sixteenths on the Dirt
September 23, 2023
When we last saw At The Gates, he struggled mightily in the slop at the Travers. Surely, he was a better horse than that, as his prior race on a sloppy track, coming here at CD, was also very poor. There was no reason to worry about rain this time around, as the track was fast, and the opportunity was there for At The Gates to redeem himself. He seemed like the top choice here in The Bourbon Trail, and we did make him our pick to win, which he would back up. At The Gates is trained by Mb Stables, who wins the race for the first time, as does jockey F Prat. Congratulations to them! This was just the third running of the race, and it does provide us our quickest winning time in its history thus far, that being 1:53.99. Let’s take a look at it now!
(1/2 Mile- :47.33)- We have a two-horse breakaway at the start of the race. Right from the gate, the eventual winner, At The Gates, is ready to run for Mb Stables but so too is Sunrise Bay, out of Royalty Stables. These two pull away by a couple of lengths down the frontstretch the first time and into the opening turn. After a half mile, they are still about two lengths ahead of the rest of the field. If it were not for third place Poolside Brave, from Nakamura Stables, then the lead of the two front runners could be about five lengths. Poolside Brave does have a big gap behind him to the remainder of the field. Hurricane Fly (Fractious) and Magical Sunset (Riggins Racing) are side by side with Face The Lunatic (Martyparty) a length behind them. State Of Fury (Alydar Stables) is even further back.
(3/4 Mile- 1:11.33)- Midway through the backstretch, At the Gates and Sunrise Bay continue to run side by side, but as we get closer to the final turn, At The Gates begins to pull ahead of that one. By the top of the turn, it’s At The Gates by about a length over Sunrise Bay. Poolside Brave is still third and continues to run all by himself with a two-length gap both ahead of him and behind him. Further back, neither Magical Sunset nor Hurricane Fly had interest in moving forward, and both Face The Lunatic and State Of Fury had a ton of ground to make up.
(Top of Stretch, 2F To Go)- We move into the stretch, and At The Gates is looking very comfortable out in front. The rest of the field had to be very concerned now as to whether or not they let him get too far ahead. Sunrise Bay was beginning to fall into the clutches of Poolside Brave, but that one had not really made a push yet. There’s a gap of at least three to the rest of the field, and back there, we see Face The Lunatic getting interested and preparing to pass Magical Sunset and Hurricane Fly as they continued to lack response. Not sure what State Of Fury’s plan was, but he was showing absolutely nothing to this point.
(Finish- 1:53.99)- In the stretch, it’s all At The Gates! Clearly, he is the class of the field in this race and makes this look very easily. Once he put away Sunrise Bay, he was never challenged and plenty left in the tank to make it to the wire, comfortably. Poolside Brave takes second, but at no point in this race did he ever concern the winner. The late running Face The Lunatic caught the fatigued Sunrise Bay for show. It’s two more to Magical Sunset and Hurricane Fly, who just wanted to run side by side all day. State Of Fury did not rebound from his dud in the BEL, and this was a concerning performance for that one.
About The Winner- At The Gates, trained by Mb Stables and ridden to victory by F Prat, is a three-year-old gelding by Lockdown and is out of Kathryn The Great. He was bred in New York as a second quarter two-year-old by Patterson Stables and was acquired by Mb Stables in the September 2022 auction, via Fractious, for $50.220. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his third in 12 starts, and his second stake win. His career earnings are now $533.000.
| ## | Horse Name | Owner Name | Jockey | Odds | Fin | Time | SRF | |||
|
At The Gates | Mb Stables | Prat F | 3.05 | 11 | 1:53.99 | ||||
|
Poolside Brave | Nakamura Stables | Garcia Mar | 4.60 | 21 | 1:54.27 | ||||
|
Face The Lunatic | Martyparty | Cedillo A | 6.65 | 3nk | 1:54.59 | ||||
|
Sunrise Bay | Royalty Stables | Vazquez R A | 39.05 | 42 | 1:54.64 | ||||
|
Magical Sunset | Riggins Racing | Elliott S | 1.55 | 5hd | 1:55.18 | ||||
|
Hurricane Fly | Fractious | Ayuso A | 12.15 | 63/4 | 1:55.21 | ||||
|
State Of Fury | Alydar Stables | Van Dyke D | 6.65 | 7 | 1:55.36 |
Track: Fast
Time: :471 1:111 1:353 1:534
$2 Mutuel Prices:
| 5 – At The Gates | 8.10 | 4.20 | 3.10 |
| 1 – Poolside Brave | 5.00 | 3.60 | |
| 3 – Face The Lunatic | 4.30 |
$1 Exacta: 5 – 1 Paid 31.70
$1 Trifecta: 5 – 1 – 3 Paid 138.10
Scratched: None
— NS
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded
