Sycamore (Grade 3)- $300.000 Purse
KEE- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Half on the Turf
October 14, 2022

The top two horses to beat in the Sycamore seemed to be Afterburner and Winter Solstice, and people would head to the betting window to show their support for the two of them. After twelve furlongs on the grass, these two favorites would live up to their billing as being the ones to beat, finishing as the top two horses. Afterburner would take home the win for Arindel, spoiling the debut of Winter Solstice for Mb Stables. We hit the trifecta straight up in the preview, that doesn’t happen all that much, but when it only goes for $28.90, you don’t want to pat yourself on the back too much. Getting plenty more reason to pat themselves on the back, and a lot more money, is Arindel, who won the Sycamore for the first time. Jockey L Saez is a two time winner. Congratulations to them! The winning race time was 2:25.04, nearly identical to the last two years but does check in as the second quickest in the history of the race. Let’s taje a look at it!

(½ Mile- :48.51)- Three horses break evenly out of the starting gate and run side by side by side down the backstretch and into the first time. On the inside here is the Mb Stables- trained Rotarian, who holds the rail and an edge of half a length after covering half a mile. The Big Beast, who is between horses for Nakamura Stables, runs in the second position. His stablemate, Steel Home, also ran at the front, but did back off just a bit when running down the frontstretch, and at this point, is a length behind the top two. Running behind them, and about two lengths behind Rotarian is another group of three horses that broke from the gate running next to one another. Winter Solstice is on the inside here in his debut for Mb Stables, and Louisiana Chicken is right alongside for Maxmillion Farm. Outcrosss runs three wide for Threshold. Running at the back, and all by himself, is our eventual winner from Arindel, Afterburner. He was not particularly quick out of the starting gate, and would spot the frontrunners five lengths. He’s won as a deep closer before, but it is not his typical style.

(3/4 Mile- 1:12.56)- The field completes the frontstretch portion and moves around the clubhouse turn, and we get ourselves a lead change before entering the backstretch. That new leader is The Big Beast, who pokes a head in front of Rotarian at this point in the race. Steel Home is still keeping close to these two, and is within a length. Further back, Winter Solstice shows a little more interest at this point in the race than the two he had been running with, and is now all by himself in the fourth position with sights set at the front three. Louisiana Chicken and Outcrosss still run next to one another, with Afterburner a length behind them.

(Top of Stretch, 1.8F To Go)- As the race moves forward down the backstretch, The Big Beast continues to lead the way, but Rotarian decided that he had enough for the day and bows out of it. Steel Home is up to the task of battling his stablemate at the front, and the two of them do so going into the turn. But now they are going to see a new member of Mb Stables closeby and Winter Solstice comes off the rail and splits the two of them while rounding the turn. Moving into the stretch, he is running right between the two Nakamura entries. Meanwhile, Afterburner starts to show more interest in the backstretch and into the turn as well. During the turn, the simultaneous inching out a lane by Louisiana Chicken and Outcrosss was not really easy to watch (not that it’s not realistic, but as much as I hate to bring it up, it looked like the race engine gave up on having them be runners for this portion), but their courteous nature allowed Afterburner to pass them pretty easily without breaking stride. That was good news for him, as he continued to advance on the leaders, and at the top of the stretch he was only a length back with a clear lane right in front of him.

(Finish- 2:25.04)- Into the stretch, the two favorites are set to battle it out between the two of them. However, you had to like Afterburner’s chances a little more given how much ground he had already made up. Winter Solstice would hold his own, but Afterburner was simply too strong at this point in the race. He gets the win by about half a length, with Winter Solstice a clear cut second. It’s three lengths to Steel Home, and another to The Big Beast. Rounding it out, it’s Louisiana Chicken, Outcrosss, and Rotarian.

About The Winner- Afterburner, trained by Arindel and ridden to victory by L Saez, is a four year old gelding by Pinnacle West and is out of the late Creepy Nightmare. He was bred in New York by Fractious as a second quarter two year old and was acquired by Arindel for $500.000 in private sales in February 2021. The win is his sixth in 29 starts, his fifth stake win and fourth graded win. His career earnings are now $1,136.000.

Track: Firm
Time: :48²  1:12²  2:00⁴  2:25

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 7 – 1 Paid 4.80
$1 Trifecta: 7 – 1 – 6 Paid 28.90

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES