The Bet On Sunshine ($300.000 Purse)
CD- For Three Year Olds and Upward
Six Furlongs on the Dirt
November 13, 2022
At seven years of age, Junior was one of the senior horses in the field, and would be making the 47th start of his career. Over that period, he has won nine times and with most of those happening at high level tracks, he’s earned quite a bit. He had won a stake before, but in The Bet On Sunshine, he would pick up the signature win of his career. Junior might also be getting better with age, because half of his now ten wins have come in his last nine starts. Maxmillion Farm picked this one up nearly four years to day of the race when Junior was still a maiden. For the trainer, Maxmillion Farm and the jockey, Ru Gonzalez, it is the first win in this race. Congratulations to them! The winning time was 1:08.73, beating the stake record by .01. Let’s take a look at it!
(1/4 Mile- :22.64)- We have a break of three horses going to the front out of the starting gate, and after a quarter mile, Martyparty’s West Coast Party has a neck in front of the other two while running in the third lane. Statuesque is running right next to him for Mb Stables, and on the rail, we have Rampage Stable’s Blueberry Yum Yum. There’s a group of four right behind them, and Bladamiro takes the inside line for Arindel, in fourth. Audioslave is next to him for Alydar Stables, and then we have our eventual winner from Maxmillion Farm, Junior, who is running three wide. Diablo Diablo’s Old Speckled Hen takes the outside lane. Next, we have a threesome consisting of What A Laff (Marimba Racing Inc), Machine Gun Tommy (Nakamura Stables), and Surprise Authority (Spankys Barn). Trailing are The Dream (Night Rider Stables) and Caught Up In You (TwinTowersRacing).
(½ Mile- :45.22, Top of Stretch, 1.8F To Go)- West Coast Party is running well as we move into the stretch, putting some distance between himself and those he was running with while in the turn. His lead is now a full length with Statuesque still trying to stay in the hunt. Blueberry Yum Yum looks like was dropping out of it now, with Bladamiro positioning himself to try and take over the third spot. Next, we have Audioslave and Junior, and the two of them are still running about two lengths from the lead and in striking range to make a move, but they would need to get on with it soon. Old Speckled Hen was trying to keep close to them. Further back, if anyone was going to make a move, they needed to show it now!
(Finish- 1:08.73)- Early in the stretch, both Audioslave and Junior looked to be gaining ground, but if I didn’t know the result before watching the race, I would have thought that Junior’s move to try and pass West Coast Party on his outside would be costly to him in winning the battle with Audioslave to the wire. But very quickly, that concern would be erased as there was Junior had a gear that Audioslave would not be able to find. Each of them would get around West Coast Party, but the late run of the 47-race veteran was impressive. With that, Junior wins by a length and a half over Audioslave with West Coast Party hanging on for third. Surprise Authority and Machine Gun Tommy take fourth and fifth with late runs, narrowly over Bladamiro. Rounding it out, we have Statuesque, Old Speckled Hen, Blueberry Yum Yum, Caught Up In You, What A Laff, and The Dream.
About The Winner- Junior, trained by Maxmillion Farm, and ridden to victory by Ru Gonzalez, is a seven year old gelding by Milestone, and is out of Turkey Treat. He was bred as a first quarter two year old in New York by Mcl Stables and was acquired by Maxmillion Farm, via First Street Stables, in a November 2018 private sale for $15.000. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his tenth in 47 starts, and his second stake win. His career earnings are now $925.490.
Track: Fast
Time: :223 :451 :564 1:083
$2 Mutuel Prices:
$1 Exacta: 8 – 7 Paid 52.80
$1 Trifecta: 8 – 7 – 5 Paid 1,144.90
Scratched: None
— NS
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded
