Seabiscuit Handicap (Grade 2)- $200.000 Purse
DMR- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Turf
November 24, 2018

The last time that Awesome Indeed had won a race was November 23, 2017. A year later, he is back in the winners circle again with his long overdue fifth win of this career, coming off a season that saw him win four races. There was not much else in common between the two races, as in that one he was sprinting on the main track, and here he was going long on the grass. Despite the lack of a win, he has run fairly well all year, and seemed a good choice to make to get a piece of the purse. A great effort, which saw him go to the lead early, something he had success with in the past but had not done much of recently, earned him the win. He didn’t go wire to wire, as you’ll see, but didn’t need too. The winning trainer is TwinTowersRacing, scoring his second win in the Seabiscuit. His prior win was back in 2013 with Rock Hallelujah. Jockey Mar Garcia is a first time winner. Congratulations go out to them! The time of the victory was 1:39.24, the quickest edition of the race since 2012. Here’s a look at it!

(1/4 Mile- :23.91)- An interesting start to the race sees The Force Awakens look ambitious early, jumping out to the early lead for Diablo Diablo. Just when you thought that he might start opening up over the field, he would have company in the form of Inverted Calibration, from Nakamura Stables on the inside, and the duo of eventual winner Awesome Indeed, for TwinTowersRacing and enormous longshot, Lambdoid Crest for Jackrussell Farms to his outside. When officially hitting the quarter mile, Awesome Indeed had a head in front, allowing us to say he led at this juncture, but he would soon back off of that and allow Inverted Calibration to lead, and Lambdoid Crest to run second. Awesome Indeed and The Force Awakens were now side by side for third, half a length back. It was a gap of two lengths to the fifth place Cannon (Maxmillion Farm). High weight Jamie Mach was next on the rail for RNP Stables. Trailing early would be Solow (Hambletonian Stable), Ingrained (Mb Stables), and Jimmy Dugan (John Henry).

(½ Mile- :47.15)- Rounding the opening turn, and entering the backstretch, both Inverted Calibration and Lambdoid Crest remain on the lead. Inverted Lambdoid does pull a bit in front of his high-priced rival here, and eventually clears him by a length. Both Awesome Indeed and The Force Awakens have no problem allowing them to do this, and they run with one another in a stalking position, two lengths back. Like before, we still have a two length gap between the front four and the rest of the field. Cannon leads the next group, with Jamie Mach to his inside. Ingrained starts to show more interest and sets his sights on a three wide move. Solow and Jimmy Dugan continued to trail.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- For the second half of the backstretch trip, Inverted Calibration is still looking sharp, and is able to carry his speed into the turn. Lambdoid Crest, for now anyway, was able to keep up, but the bigger challengers were behind him. The Force Awakens looked like he would be the one to take the spot over the course of the turn, and eventually he did complete a pass of Inverted Calibration, but at that point, the pass was for second. Awesome Indeed had moved to the third lane midway through the turn, and at this time, Mar Garcia asked him to make his move, and Awesome Indeed responded very well. He would take the lead by the time they hit the top of the stretch, and did so while looking smooth and graceful. These four were still nailing down the top four spots, but both Cannon and Jamie Mach were looking for room themselves. Jamie Mach had a good lane right behind The Force Awakens, while Cannon seemed to have clear daylight and no excuses here. Further back, Ingrained was still four wide, but had not passed anyone new. Solow and Jimmy Dugan remained at the back.

(Finish- 1:39.24)- Back in front of the field had to feel good for Awesome Indeed, and there was no let up for him in the stretch. If he did, then The Force Awakens could have made a run of him, but Awesome Indeed was so good here, he maintained his length advantage all the way to the wire, picking up another late November victory. The Force Awakens was a clear second here, as these two horses were the class of the field. Jamie Mach ends up third, and perhaps the weight did him in more then we thought it would. Cannon never really made progress in the stretch, and probably should have been able to stay ahead of Jamie Mach, but was unable too. He’ll still get that fourth place check, beating Ingrained, who was a disappointment. Solow and Jimmy Dugan were simply the best of the rest at this point. Inverted Calibration packed it in quite disappointingly at the top of the stretch, and Lambdoid Crest finishes at the back.

About The Winner: Awesome Indeed, trained by TwinTowersRacing, and ridden to victory by Mar Garcia, is a four year old colt by Foresight, and is out of Roaring Proud. He was bred in California as a third quarter two year old by TwinTowersRacing, the only trainer for which he has ever known. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his fifth in 21 starts, his second stake win, and first graded win. His career earnings are now $430.080.

Track: Firm
Time: :23⁴  :47   1:10¹  1:39¹

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 7 – 4 Paid 38.60
$1 Trifecta: 7 – 4 – 2 Paid 68.00

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES