San Pasqual Stakes (Grade 2)- $200.000 Purse
SA- For Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
February 2, 2019

Fox News is not going to be known for balanced race results, but one thing that is becoming a trend with him is that when he does have one of his occasional flat races, he follows it up with a win. It was something mentioned in the preview, and now that is has happened again, it’s become an interesting footnote to his career. In the San Pasqual, he needed everything he had, because the finish was intense, as three of them would hit the wire together. Fox News just barely topped Eclipse My Knowledge and Red Zero to earn the win for D J C Racing Stables. It is the first time that he has won this stake, and jockey J Bravo is also a first time winner. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:47.87, a bit faster then last year. The race saw a couple of late scratches, both out of Mb Stables, as the weather was surprisingly good, and the track was fast. Game Cent and Pauls Checkmark, a couple of off track regulars, were pulled from the race. Let’s take a look at the race.

(½ Mile- :47.39)- The two outside horses, Maxmillion Farm’s Combat Wombat and Nakamura Stables’ Eclipse My Knowledge are the quickest out of the gate, and it appears as though they are going to battle it out together, but they get some company on the front end moving into the turn in the form of Jail Break, also out of Maxmillion Farm. Jail Break ends up with the lead of these three while rounding the opening turn and into the backstretch. La Lune Rain, the Mb Stables entry not scratched because of no rain, despite having rain in his name, looked like he was briefly considering a four wide push to the front, then called that off. To his inside would be Red Zero, out of Angelos Stable, and our eventual winner, Fox News, running in the middle for D J C Racing Stables, and only being two and a half lengths from the lead. It was a gap of two to Liverpool Rocket (Estero Farms) and Pomodoro (Aer Stables), and another to the trailer, Unworthy (LionKing Stables).

(3/4 Mile- 1:11.15)- For most of the backstretch, Jail Break seemed ok, but as they moved towards the turn, it was looking like he was having enough. Combat Wombat and Eclipse My Knowledge held their ground for now, but they had to be feeling both Fox News and Red Zero getting closer. Fox News always had a favorable position to be able to pick a lane if one opened up in front of them, and that was forming now between Combat Wombat and Eclipse My Knowledge, and he would have plenty of time to make it work. Red Zero would also have the ability to either move all the way to the rail once Jail Break dropped out more, or to split he and Combat Wombat. Not much else going on behind them. La Lune Rain lost some track position and dropped back a bit to now run with Liverpool Rocket. Pomodoro was hanging with the crowd, but Unworthy was becoming at risk of losing touch with them.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- Fox News did not make an aggressive push within the turn, and instead gradually slid between the front runners, and they were now, pretty much, three wide at the top of the stretch. Red Zero had to wait a longer to make a move as Jail Break didn’t drop out as quick as it was seeming like he was about to at the top of the turn. While still in good position, he lost a valuable length on Fox News because of it. Jail Break was still fifth, but Liverpool Rocket, Pomodoro, and La Lune Rain were about to go by, but all had a lot of work to do if they wanted to challenge for a win. Unworthy trailed by five.

(Finish- 1:47.87)- Fox News ran really well in the stretch, and the response of Eclipse My Knowledge was also impressive as he did not back down at all and valiantly fought to the end. While they were looking good, Red Zero made his bid too, and was a little quicker then the eventual top two, but could not make up that valuable length that he lost near the exit of the final turn. They do end up in a three wide photo, and it is Fox News, by a nose over Red Zero, who was a nose over Eclipse My Knowlege. A great run by all three. Combat Wombat remained within a length to be fourth, ahead of Liverpool Rocket, who started coming on very late, but ran out of time. Would have been interesting to see if he could have got them all with another half furlong. Further back, it was Pomodoro ahead of Unworthy, then La Lune Rain and the leg weary Jail Break.

About The Winner- Fox News, trained by D J C Racing Stables, and ridden to victory by J Bravo, is a four year old colt by Diplomatic Immunity, and is out of the late Spilt Milk. He was bred in New York as a second quarter two year old by D J C Racing Stables, and they have been together throughout. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his fifth in 15 starts, four of which are graded stakes wins. His career earnings are now $1,191.360.

Track: Fast
Time: :47¹  1:11   1:35²  1:47⁴

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 3 – 11 Paid 131.80
$1 Trifecta: 3 – 11 – 1 Paid 2,465.10

Scratched: Game Cent(L), Pauls Checkmark(L)

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES