The Gander ($100.000 Purse)
AQU- For Three Year Olds Foaled in NY
One Mile on the Dirt
February 25, 2024

NY Breds a chance to shine on Sunday, as the ninth running of the Gander took place. There was not much of a surprise with the winner of the race, as post time favorite and our pick, Creepy Romantic took care of business and won by a length. The second and third place finishers were much more unexpected as they were the two longest shots on the board. As for the winner, Creepy Romantic is trained by Broken Spoke Stables, and it is their first win in the race. Along for the ride was J Lezcano, and it’s also his first win. Congratulations to the connections! The time of the win was 1:35.01, and that is a new stake record. Note that the race saw two scratches: Empire State and Gaslight. Let’s take a look at it:

(1/4 Mile- :23.30)- Jupiter Moon goes out to the lead from the outside for Big Jd Racing and will carry a lead of length into the backstretch. In second is the Fractious-trained So Hit The Road, which is a neck in front of La Canada Racehorses’ Family Fun. Our eventual winner, Creepy Romantic is fourth here for Broken Spoke Stables, and is situated right between the second and third place runners. We then have a length to Wild Dawn (Smokey Stover) and Cyber Attack (D J C Racing Stables), and another to Texas Twister (Riggins Racing), who runs four wide. At the back, it’s Keep Your Distance (D J C Racing Stables), A Boy Named Kate (Arindel), and Capitaliste (Jerry Garcia Racing).

(½ Mile- :47.02)- Jupiter Moon will hold his length lead over the course of the backstretch as Family Fun moves into the second position on the rail. So Hit The Road has lost a little bit of ground, and now has Creepy Romantic about to take the third spot from him. It’s a length and a half to Wild Dawn and Cyber Attack with Texas Twister still running in the outside lane. Keep Your Distance has bit some distance between he and the two trailers, A Boy Named Kate and Capitaliste.

(Top of Stretch, 1.8F To Go)- Moving into the stretch, Jupiter Moon still seems to be fine and comfortable as he holds his length advantage still but would fold under pressure, because Family Fun is looking to make a move on the rail and Creepy Romantic is directly behind him and poised to make a run. So Hit The Road gradually loses ground, but the longshot Texas Twister has been making progress and it doesn’t matter that he has been running forward. Also looking interesting here is Keep Your Distance, another longshot, as he too has been cutting his deficit to the leaders. Meanwhile, Wild Dawn and Cyber Attack were lacking response and neither A Boy Named Kate or Capitaliste were showing much.

(Finish- 1:35.01)- With about a furlong to go, Jupiter Moon is unable to sustain his pace, and drifts a bit. That was exactly what Creepy Romantic wanted to see as now what might have been a very narrow opening became much larger and easy to navigate. He was able to take advantage, and also easily put away Family Fun. Approaching the wire, his supporters could cheer knowing they had picked the winner, but who were these other two horses? 242/1 longshot Texas Twister had continued to run well to the wire but needed to hold off the charge of 84/1 longshot Keep Your Distance to complete the exacta. He would, and even with the post time favorite winning, we get some nice prices for the exacta and trifecta. Family Fun gets fourth, narrowly over Jupiter Moon. The second half of the field will read Cyber Attack, A Boy Named Kate, Capitaliste, So Hit The Road, and the disappointing Wild Dawn.

About The Winner- Creepy Romantic, trained by Broken Spoke Stables and ridden to victory by J Lezcano, is a three-year-old gelding by Creepy Rene and is out of the late Romantics. He was bred in New York by Arkansas Elite as a first quarter two-year-old, and was acquired by Broken Spoke Stables for just $5.000 in a September private sale. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his second in seven starts and first stake win. His career earnings are now $131.000.

Track: Fast
Time: :23¹  :47  1:11  1:35

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 2 – 10 Paid 2,647.90
$1 Trifecta: 2 – 10 – 8 Paid 1,302.30

Scratched: Empire State, Gaslight

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded