The PIM Special (Grade 3)- $300.000 Purse
PIM- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and Three Sixteenths on the Dirt
May 19, 2017

For what may be the first time in his career, Danzig On The Rocks has now strung two strong races together, and has followed up his Coolmore Lexington win last month with a victory in the PIM Special.  It’s not only the first time he has won two in a row, but just the second time he has followed up a top three finish with another finish in the top three.  He’s is now beginning to show that potential with new trainer Mb Stables, and with that consistency, there is no telling just how good he may become.  This will be the second win the stake for trainer and jockey, who teamed up in 2015 as well with No Trippin.  Congratulations!  The time of the win was 1:54.22, the second quickest in the history stake.   Let’s take a look at how it was won!

(½ Mile- :47.97)- No one is particularly hurried out of the gate at the start, and it would end up being Luck For Six emerging with the early advantage for his trainer, Grimley.   He would have some company to his outside in the form of Mb Stables’ Royal Prodigy, who remained about 3/4 a length behind.   They both seemed content to run their own race as they made their way around the opening turn and neither seemed to concerned with the other.  Sitting back a length from his stablemate was our eventual winner Danzig On The Rocks, who was fourth, and also just riding out the opening furlongs.  Along the rail, the veteran Port On The Horizon was the third place runner for D J C Racing Stables, equally as happy to run behind Luck For Six without applying all that much pressure.  Following them, it was a gap of about two and a half to the trailers, Scott The Great (Night Mare Racing), and Rapid Refund (Blushing Meadows).

(3/4 Mile- 1:11.67)- The early portion of the backstretch trip was uneventful, but as expected we started to see some movement as they approached the final turn.  Luck For Six also looked like he may be tiring a bit, so Port On The Horizon looked for room to split him and Royal Prodigy.  As for Royal Prodigy, his move to the lead may have been more due to Luck For Six tiring then a push of his own, as the pressure from Port On The Horizon and Danzig On The Rocks was picking up.  The eventual winner was fourth still, and began to position himself for a four wide move as they rounded the turn.   The gap to the trailers was still two and a half.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.7F To Go)- A thrilling finish starts to set itself up as they are four wide at the top of the stretch, side by side.  Luck Of Six showed me to be a little premature in thinking he may be tiring as he showed more life then I was expecting in the turn, showing some good heart, at the very least.   The post time favorite, Royal Prodigy was in a good position for the stretch run, but so too were Port On The Horizon and Danzig On The Rocks.  The move of Port On The Horizon to split horses worked well and he got a good trip around the turn, and the move of Danzig On The Rocks to go four wide also worked out and allowed him to draw level with the others.  At this point, it was going to be all about the stretch, not knowing which of these four would end up with the win.   Scott The Great and Rapid Refund were still about two and a half out, and with the way things were shaping up at the front, you had the feeling it would be tough for one of them to make up the ground on all four of the frontrunners.

(Finish- 1:54.22)- The strongest head of steam at the top of stretch would belong to Danzig On The Rocks, who used his momentum while rounding the turn to his benefit and never let up, allowing him to pull ahead of Port On The Horizon by about half a length.  Both ran well and battled hard in the stretch, but that half length remained constant between them and Danzig On The Rocks would go on to score the victory.  The runner up, Port On The Horizon, did nothing wrong in his second place finish, which was his first time being part of an exacta since January 2016.  Royal Prodigy hung with them for a while, but he seemed to have extended all his energy and bowed out quite noticeably in the final half furlong.  Running the best of them all in the stretch was Scott The Great, and it would not be a futile effort as it got him up for third, and within about a length of the winner, when he had trailed by just over two at the beginning of the stretch.  Rapid Refund ran steady to the wire and nearly caught Royal Prodigy for fourth.  Luck For Six had nothing for the stretch.

About The Winner: Danzig On The Rocks, owned by Mb Stables and ridden by I Ortiz Jr, is a three year old gelding by Danzig Delight, and out of Scotch And Water.  He was bred in Ontario as a yearling by Mo Mentum farm and was acquired by Mb Stables via Yankee Doodle Stable in the March auction for $399.000.  Congratulations to the connections!  The win is his fourth in 13 starts, and second graded win.  With Mb Stables, he is 2-for-3, and his career winnings are now $355.800.

Track: Fast
Time: :47⁴  1:11³  1:35⁴  1:54¹

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 4 – 1 Paid 33.80
$1 Trifecta: 4 – 1 – 2 Paid 573.70

Scratched: Dogs Infowarrior

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES