Leonatus Stakes ($125.000 Purse)
TP- For Three Year Olds
One Mile on the Dirt
January 20, 2024
The first edition of the Leonatus Stakes took place at TP on Saturday, and it attracted quite a bit of interest given its appealing conditions for three-year-olds. For Extreme Flyer, this was his first time going long and a recent work suggested that he would do well with it. We didn’t pick him but did see him as a pretty good contender if he could back up that work. He would be able to accomplish that and grabs the win for trainer La Canada Racehorses and jockey A Cedillo, coming at odds of 18/1. Congratulations to them! The race’s first winning time will go down as 1:35.26. Let’s take a look at it now:
(1/4 Mile- :23.17)- The eventual race winner, Extreme Flyer, breaks sharply out of the starting gate and looks like he’d be the leader at first call, but from the outside Soho Rules, out of Mb Stables, pushes forward just enough to grab that distinction by a nose. Within a length right between them is Follow My Orbit, for Fractious, with a gap of about two lengths to the rest of the field. That’s where we find a three wide group of Heavy Truce (Waldo) on the rail, Empire State (First Class Stable) in the middle, and Creepy Romantic (Broken Spoke Stables) on the outside. Chicken Force (Delta Farms) is right behind them on the rail, then Want Rum (Team 7 Illusions) and Kona (Big Guns Stables). Trailing are Spellbinding (Night Rider Stables) and Dahmer (Mb Stables).
(½ Mile- :46.55)- As we move down the backstretch, Soho Rules is a little faster than Extreme Flyer and pulls ahead by almost a full length. Extreme Flyer is still running well to the inside, but the horse that had been between them, Follow My Orbit has dropped back into a stalking position. He’s by himself in that spot, with a two-length gap to a group of four running alongside one another. Those horses Heavy Truce, Empire State, Creepy Romantic, and Want Rum. Chicken Force is next on the rail, with Kona and Dahmer a length back. Spellbinding can see them all in front of him now.
(Top of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- Before we reach the turn, Extreme Flyer pulls up alongside Soho Rules once again, and within the turn, the effortless manner in which he pulled away from him was eye opening to say the least. Extreme Flyer entered the stretch with a two-length lead over the fading Soho Rules, and the pack tightening up so new players from the pack would likely play out in the stretch. Still, it looked like Extreme Flyer was about to run away with this thing at this point.
(Finish- 1:35.26)- With a furlong to go, Extreme Flyer still led by two as Heavy Truce and Creepy Romantic start to look like the closest threats. It still seemed like a comfortable win for Extreme Flyer with half a furlong to go, but in the final strides the combination of him tiring and the resiliency of a few challengers, particularly Chicken Force when he found a clear lane made this a closer result than it seemed. Extreme Flyer does win by half a length over a three-way photo for place. In that, Chicken Force prevails over Creepy Romantic, then Heavy Truce. It’s a length and a half to Want Rum, then Kona and Dahmer. Rounding it out are Follow My Orbit, Empire State, Soho Rules, and Spellbinding.
About The Winner- Extreme Flyer, trained by La Canada Racehorses and ridden to victory by A Cedillo, is a three-year-old gelding by Extremo and is out of Rhodium. He was bred by Arkansas Elite in New York as a second quarter two-year-old and was acquired by La Canada Racehorses for $15.000 in private sales in late October. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his second in seven starts and first stake win. His career earnings are now $135.800.
Track: Fast
Time: :23 :462 1:103 1:351
$2 Mutuel Prices:
$1 Exacta: 5 – 1 Paid 103.30
$1 Trifecta: 5 – 1 – 4 Paid 1,006.50
Scratched: None
— NS
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded
