Daytona Stakes (Grade 3)- $150.000 Purse
SA- For Four Year Olds and Upward
Six and a Half Furlongs on the Turf
February 24, 2018

In a race that featured the top two finishers from the BC Turf Sprint last year, it was the runner up from that race that would come out on top this time. Champion Farley may be emerging as one of the top horses in the game that you don’t know much about. It’s his second win of the year already, and he has won four of his last five races, with the only non-win being in the BC, and running second there is pretty good, too. The winning trainer is Mb Stables, who experiences Daytona Stakes glory for the first time, and look, he only needed one horse in the field to do it! Might not be enough to quiet down the couple stables who want ridiculous restrictions placed on the amount of trainer entries in a stake, though. Mario Gutierrez wins the race for the first time as well. Congratulations to them! The winning time of 1:12.97 is on the slower end of winning times for this race, but it was all that was needed. Let’s take a look at it!

(1/4 Mile- :22.51)- Tokyo Secret, the reigning BC Turf Sprint champion, is the quickest out of the gate, and leads the field over the downhill portion of the track, for trainer Tiratzo. In close proximity to his inside runs John Henry’s Rebel Force. Another length back, we have Proud Revolt (Stone Creek Farm) running on the rail and Kremlin (Maxmillion Farm) on the outside. They are in stalking position, within a length and a half, and lead a threesome another length behind them. It consists of Desmond (Sharis Stables) on the rail, El Gran Black (Luz International) in the middle, and the eventual race winner, Champion Farley (Mb Stables) on the outside. Champion Farley has the lane that we commonly see emerge as successful at the end at this point in the race. Trailing are Mucho Knowledge (Estero Farms) and Solow (LionKing Stables).

(2F To Go, ½ Mile in :44.41)- After running half mile in :44.41, the field hits the top of the frontstretch with Tokyo Secret still looking to be in good shape. His lead now is nearly a fully length as Rebel Force loses a little bit of ground. Creeping through on the rail was Proud Revolt, emerging as a top contender at this point. Kremlin was still there, holding his ground, but was about to have some company with El Gran Black coming to his inside, and Champion Farley to his outside. Both of these two were looking to position themselves for the stretch run but the big difference would be Champion Farley had a clear lane, and El Gran Black had the potential to get boxed in. Boxed in is what Desmond looked to be at this point, something was going to have to give for him to have running room. Mucho Knowledge wanted to go about six wide here, which was not a bad idea, but he had a lot of horses to get by, still. Solow could see them all in front of him.

(Finish: 1:12.97)- With nothing but daylight in front of him, Champion Farley was in full stride in the stretch and handled it like a true champion. It was not easy, but this horse has heart and he showed it all the way to the wire to get the win. Behind him, we had Desmond, who benefitted from Rebel Force being the most courteous racehorse on the track and politely moving over for him. With the lane now clear, Desmond exploded on through and finishes a game second. He passed Proud Revolt in the stretch cleanly, and Proud Revolt still finished third, so keep an eye on where Desmond ends up next. Mucho Knowledge did all he could in the outside lane but began his run too late. He ends up fourth. Tokyo Secret was disappointing in the stretch, and dead heats with Kremlin for fifth. El Gran Black had some traffic issues, and runs 7th, followed by Solow, who really lacked response today. Rebel Force proves that nice horses finish last.

About The Winner: Champion Farley, trained by Mb Stables and ridden to victory by Mario Gutierrez, is a five year old horse by C J Farley, and out of F Me. He was bred in New York by Pristine Stables as a second quarter two year old, and acquired by Mb Stables almost exactly two years ago, via Bigking, in private sales for $75.000. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his tenth in 22 starts, his sixth stake win, and second graded win. His career earnings are now $817.450.

Track: Firm
Time: :22²  :44²  1:07¹  1:12⁴

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 6 – 2 Paid 55.40
$1 Trifecta: 6 – 2 – 1 Paid 35.30

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES