WO Mile – Grade I
1 Mile Turf Graded Stake Purse $1,000.00 Three-Year-Olds And Upward. At WO

1st      Highway Robber                       Mb Stables               11-1 HRP 30-1 SRF

Highway Robber had raced 22 times and never a turf race. But we all should have taken that 1 mile turf wok: 1:34H  1/189 seriously. I mentioned it in my preview, but I didn’t take it seriously and gave him odds of 30-1 and placed him tenth of eleven I spotted the tip off and ignored it… idiot. To top it off, Highway Robber ran the best deep close he ever did in any of his dirt races breaking out seventh and coming into the stretch third and timing it just right for a nose win at the wire.

2nd      Ultimate Champion        Night Rider Stables             7-1 HRP 6-1 SRF

Now, Ultimate Champion is a dyed-in-the-wool closer and he was way back in eleventh in the early going and still seventh at the top of the stretch but closing like the proverbial freight train, and his timing was right as well and with two deep closers hitting the finish line at the same time there had to be a winner or a dead heat, and this time Highway Robber prevailed.

3rd      Ello Santa                 Mb Stables             *3-2 HRP *3-5 SRF

I went out on a limb and wrote my preview as though Ello Santa would never lose at a mile on turf. Well, guess what? He lost. I suppose running third beaten only a half-length in a $1,000.00 Grade I stakes race ain’t too shabby, but the way I wrote the article, you’d expect a five-length win. Anyway, Ello Santa came out of the starting gate battling with Train Station Day, had the lead over that one at the top of the stretch and was still fighting when the closers came by.

4th      Train Station Day                      Invicta Group Llc                  8-1 HRP 5-1 SRF

Train Station Day came out of the gate on top, maintained the lead around the far turn before turning it over to Ello Santa and weakened down the lane but was the best of the others.

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES