Texas Turf ($250.000 Purse)
LS- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Turf
June 29, 2024

Last year, Buffalo G ran in the Texas Turf and set the early fractions before being passed by a couple, en route to a third-place finish. Returning in 2024 on a two-race winning streak, the gelding was hoping to improve on that finish but would run the race a lot differently. This time, he would run near the back of the field before turning it on near the end to get the victory. He would go off as the slight post time favorite and was also our pick to win. Buffalo G would not let down his supporters or his trainer, Nakamura Stables, who gets his second Texas Turf victory. In 2022, he got the win with the late Mr Scratch. The winning jockey for Buffalo G was S Elliott, who secures his first win in the race. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:44.80, which is the fastest of the four editions of the race. Let’s take a look at it now:

(½ Mile- :46.66)- Details Matter will be the early leader of the race, and the Alydar Stables entry will hold an approximate length advantage over the second place, Mb Stables- trained, Ptyrannical. Third on the rail is Brooklyn, who runs by himself, and is a length ahead of the eventual winner from Nakamura Stables, Buffalo G. It’s a long way back to the trailer, Threshold’s Zensation, but this is how he likes to run, so we’ll see how it goes.

(3/4 Mile- 1:10.10)- Down the backstretch, Details Matter continues to lead and has not had anyone challenge him quite yet. Ptyrannical runs right behind him, and it’s another length to Brooklyn. Buffalo G did not make a push in the backstretch but was positioning himself to make a move to the outside of Brooklyn during the turn. Zensation was still several lengths further back.

(Top of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- Buffalo G was much the best during the turn, quickly gaining ground on the leader. He would make a three wide move, looking to go around Brooklyn, but as that went on, each of them would catch Ptyrannical, who was now struggling in his Mb Stables debut. Details Matter was still the leader of the race, but only by a half-length now on Buffalo G. As for Zensation, he was starting to catch the rest of the pack now.

(Finish- 1:44.80)- With a little more than a furlong to go in the stretch, Buffalo G would take the lead from Details Matter, and seemed to have the race in the bag at that point. Brooklyn was not making a further push, and while Zensation was running well, there was simply too much ground for him to make up. Buffalo G would indeed finish out the race strong to get the win, and Details Matter completes the exacta. Zensation gets third over Brooklyn, with Ptyrannical fading to last. If the fourth and fifth place finishers were reversed, we would have predicted the complete running order exactly.

About The Winner- Buffalo G, trained by Nakamura Stables and ridden to victory by S Elliott, is a seven-year-old gelding by Roebuck and is out of Queen Of Africa. He was bred by Gustafson Stable in Ontario as a second quarter two-year-old, and was acquired by Nakamura Stables in the September 2020 auction for $53.010. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his sixteenth in 44 starts, and his seventh stake win. His career earnings are now $1,218.780.

Track: Firm
Time: :46³  1:10  1:33²  1:44⁴

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 5 – 3 Paid 3.70
$1 Trifecta: 5 – 3 – 4 Paid 72.50

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded