The Iselin Stakes (Grade 3)- $250.000 Purse
MTH- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Dirt
August 17, 2024

Early in his career, Cheap Ways spent time in several cheap races, and he has passed through several different barns. In June, there was nothing cheap about claiming tag that he ran for, and Iolaus Racing made the $80.000 commitment to pick him up. This has proven to be a great decision, as the five-year-old gelding is now a graded stake winner. He had run in this type of race a few times before, but now he has that win. He is also now 2-for-2 with Iolaus Racing since the claim. For the trainer, this is his first win in the race, and this is also true for jockey A Beschizza. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:40.81, and that is a new stake record for races held at this distance. Let’s take a look at it now:

Please Note: The recaps for my other two races, the DMR Oaks and the Kings Plate, will be on Sunday evening, as suggested in the previews for the races.

(1/4 Mile- :23.02)- It’s a two-horse breakaway at the front of the field as the Mb Stables- trained Individuation wastes no time getting to the lead, but he has company up there as Best Of West, from Williams9, is right there with him and is the one credited with the top spot at this point of the race. It’s a big gap, of 3-4 lengths, to the third place Kylo Ren, saddled by Luz International. Along inside is the race’s eventual winner, Iolaus Racing’s Cheap Ways. It’s another length to Lets Celebrate (Riggins Racing), then a length and a half to the trailing three, which sees Investment Center (TwinTowersRacing) having the edge on Winter Book (Fractious) and Big Bang Boom (Rock Creek).

(½ Mile- :46.06)- Heading down the backstretch, Individuation and Best Of West continue to hold a big lead on the rest of the field, and for now, Individuation is the one in front. Lets Celebrate did not like seeing these two open up by so much and makes a push to move into third as he hopes to draw closer. Doing this resulted in being ahead of both Kylo Ren and Cheap Ways by a length and a half, as those two are not concerned with what is going on in front of them. Investment Center, Winter Book, and Big Bang Boom have conceded a significant amount of ground on the top two.

(Top of Stretch, 1.6F To Go)- Best Of West would reclaim the top spot just prior to the entering the top of the turn as the frontrunners continue to battle one another. Within the turn, we start to see the rest of the field closing in, initially being Lets Celebrate continuing to make slight progress. Midway into the turn, Cheap Ways hits his best stride and pushes forward. He’ll have Lets Celebrate passed for third by the time they reached the top of the stretch and had just two lengths to make up on the leaders. Meanwhile, Kylo Ren was losing ground, but Investment Center started to show some interest, and that would lead to both Winter Book and Big Bang Boom trying to advance with him.

(Finish- 1:40.81)- In the stretch, Best Of West tried to hang on, but the rest of the field was closing by a much more significant margin. Cheap Ways was in an all-out drive along the rail and had plenty of room to make this run. Approaching the wire, he would take the top spot and would go on to win the race by a length over the late running Investment Center, who simply ran out of time. Best Of West did enough to remain third, with Big Bang Boom sliding through the middle of the field to get fourth. Individuation is fifth, ahead of only Winter Book, Kylo Ren, and Lets Celebrate.

About The Winner- Cheap Ways, trained by Iolaus Racing and ridden to victory by A Beschizza, is a five-year-old gelding by the late Cheap Delight and is out of Scandalous Ways. He was bred in Ontario by Nakamura Stables as a second quarter two-year-old, and was acquired by Iolaus Racing with an $80.000 claim this June. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his eighth in 24 starts, and his first stake win. His career earnings are now $338.940.

Track: Fast
Time: :23  :46  1:10  1:40⁴

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 1 – 2 Paid 209.40
$1 Trifecta: 1 – 2 – 7 Paid 1,213.70

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES