Allison Derby
1 Mile Dirt Stake Purse $100.000 Three-Year-Olds. At SUN
1st Fandom Aer Stables 10-1 (HRP) 6-1 (SRF)
Fandom walked away from the winner’s circle undefeated. That little break since the end of November didn’t bother him at all and he popped out of the gate eager to run, just as that mile work back on the second indicated. He forced the issue all the way into the stretch where he took over and was drawing away at the wire. As I said in my preview, I liked what I saw in that five-furlong debut and the mile prep and placed him in the top five. Obviously, he should have been about five spots higher. He looks like he can run all day long and comes from some serious router blood with both grandsires serious about distance and multimillionaire Naples which won the BC Distaff and the KY Oaks as his granddam. I would say we will see him in Derby qualifiers next.
2nd Dune Road D J C Racing Stables 7-1 (HRP) 5-1 (SRF)
I mentioned in my preview that the $300.000 RP Springboard Mile was a too tough a spot for a horse that just broke his maiden and Dune Road showed us here just how tough he is by taking control out of the gate and leading them down the lane to lose a tough battle at the finish line against a horse that looks to be another strong Derby contender. With this run and that 1:37 work in December, he has proved that he can handle a distance of ground. One of his grandsires is the master of routes, Commanding; the other is Copper Bottom which won both the BC Juvenile and the Fountain of Youth Stakes before retiring young. Lots of routing blood there as he heads down the Derby trail.
3rd Hades Panionios Racing 8-1 (HRP) 8-1 (SRF)
Well, he did it. What I worried about with Hades was that he had never seen stakes company and never gone around two turns. His works are spectacular. He should be able to do this. So, first try at a mile, and he stalked the front runners into the stretch and kept pursuing gamely. I figure come next race he’ll be getting the hang of it and closing much better, and much better could well translate into a win and an invitation to the big show.
4th Term Limits TwinTowersRacing 5-1 (HRP) *3-1 (SRF)
I think Term Limits would have appreciated a bit faster pace out of the gate. As this went, he got kinda hung out around the club house turn and never got into a comfortable rhythm, so when he was called on, he just gave a lackadaisical performance coming home. Still, an off run for this guy meant he was better than seven other stakes horses, so there’s that. He’s good enough that you drop him in a qualifier next month, and he has a decent chance of coming home with a ticket to the show.
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded