AP Million (Grade 1)- $1,000.000 Purse
CNL- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Quarter on the Turf
August 9, 2025
Prior to Saturday’s running of the AP Million, only two horses had won the stake on multiple occasions: Bronze Sabre and Dead Madness. Now, Grand Opening has added his name to the list following a two length with at CNL, backing up his performance in 2024. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as the now six-year-old gelding was our pick to win, although he was allowed to go off at a respectable price of 9/2. He’s trained by Riggins Racing, and it is the second time that the trainer has won, and they are the two Grand Opening victories. The king of PRX, F Pennington, is the winning rider and does so for the third time. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:57.50, and that’s the quickest of the three running’s of the race held here. Let’s take a look at it now:
(½ Mile- :47.15)- Our eventual winner, Grand Opening, is the quickest out of the gate and the Riggins Racing will show the way down the frontstretch the first time. His lead continues into the turn, but just prior to hitting a half mile, a push by Maxmillion Farm’s Anna Anna Anna sees that one to the lead by a neck and keeps us from saying Grand Opening went wire to wire. King Z is up at the front as well, as the Mb Stables entry rides the rail. Stalking the leaders are High Voltage’s Tom Kha Gai and Diablo Diablo’s State Cavier. It’s about two lengths to Poison Arrow (Mb Stables) and following him in line are Reinvestment (Invicta Group Llc) and Suit Up (Night Rider Stables).
(3/4 Mile- 1:10.65)- After letting Anna Anna Anna have about five seconds of leading race, Grand Opening decides to have enough of that, and surges forward a little more down the backstretch and is now a full length ahead of both that one and King Z. The two stalkers, Tom Kha Gai and State Cavier make a move as well, taking the third and fourth lanes with visions of passing Anna Anna Anna and King Z during the turn if they can make it work. Poison Arrow is content to hold his line in fifth, still running about five and a half lengths from the league. At the back, Reinvestment and Suit Up have not shown much as of yet.
(Top of Stretch, 1.8F To Go)- Grand Opening takes command during the turn, drawing further away from the competition, opening up a two and a half-length cushion. Once we get to the rest of the pack, it’s looking interesting as Tom Kha Gai is about to take over the second spot from King Z. Anna Anna Anna is still lingering with this group for now, but that seems as though it will be short lived. State Cavier on the far outside looks to make his move now. Poison Arrow’s commitment to staying on the rail looks like it will benefit him as there is enough room for him to stay there and make his push. Reinvestment was looking more interested now but had a lot of traffic in front of him and not a lot of time to make it work. Suit Up was looking like an also ran.
(Finish- 1:57.50)- He’s done it before, so with a big lead at the top of the stretch, there was little reason to think that Grand Opening would not be able to run strong all the way to the wire. F Pennington just had to finish this out, and his horse would deliver, winning by two lengths and going back-to-back in the AP Million! He was never pressured by anyone else, but we do need someone to complete the exacta, and that will be Poison Arrow, who had a good trip to secure that spot, but Grand Opening never saw him all day. Third goes to Tom Kha Gai, with the late running Reinvestment getting the final cut of the purse. Rounding it out, it’s State Cavier, King Z, Anna Anna Anna, and Suit Up.
About The Winner- Grand Opening, trained by Riggins Racing and ridden to victory by F Pennington, is a six-year-old gelding by Grande Sournoise and is out of Beginning Of The End. He was bred in Ontario by Team 7 Illusions as a first quarter two-year-old, and was acquired by Riggins Racing from Tockyocky for a $20.000 in a February 2023 private sale. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his eighteenth in 32 starts, his tenth stake win and ninth graded win. His career earnings are now $7,249.810.
| ## | Horse Name | Owner Name | Jockey | Odds | Fin | Time | SRF | ||
| 6 | Grand Opening | Riggins Racing | Pennington F | 4.70 | 12 | 1:57.50 | — | ||
| 1 | Poison Arrow | Mb Stables | Gaffalione T | 8.50 | 21/4 | 1:57.98 | — | ||
| 3 | Tom Kha Gai | High Voltage | Conner T | 2.65 | 31/2 | 1:58.06 | — | ||
| 4 | Reinvestment | Invicta Group Llc | Prat F | 9.65 | 41 | 1:58.17 | — | ||
| 8 | State Cavier | Diablo Diablo | Bejarano R | 2.30 | 5no | 1:58.38 | — | ||
| 2 | King Z | Mb Stables | Centeno D E | 7.70 | 61/2 | 1:58.40 | — | ||
| 5 | Anna Anna Anna | Maxmillion Farm | Jimenez A | 10.05 | 73/4 | 1:58.53 | — | ||
| 7 | Suit Up | Night Rider Stables | Espinoza V | 38.90 | 8 | 1:58.72 | — |
Track: Firm
Time: :47 1:103 1:34 1:572
$2 Mutuel Prices:
| 6 – Grand Opening | 11.40 | 5.70 | 3.50 |
| 1 – Poison Arrow | 9.30 | 5.10 | |
| 3 – Tom Kha Gai | 2.90 |
$1 Exacta: 6 – 1 Paid 50.50
$1 Trifecta: 6 – 1 – 3 Paid 109.60
Scratched: None
— NS
Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES