The KYD (Grade 1)- $3,000.000 Purse
CD- For Three Year Olds
One Mile and One Quarter on the Dirt
May 1, 2021

The excitement started in the afternoon at CD, with two year old fillies going to the starting gate. The winner of the race would be a horse named Blue Dream, serving as a precursor for what would be realized later in the evening. The dream would not be blue, but the opportunity to win what everyone would love: a KYD victory. Two trainers had the chance to win the race for a second time, while everyone else chased that first win. More races would be run, with the stakes increasing in significance until twenty of the best racehorses in the virtual racing world took part in the KYD. When all was said and done, the post time favorite, Howl Of The Hound, would be first, narrowly defeating Cheesy at the wire. With that result, it would be one of the trainers with a KYD win already in their pocket earning their second. That trainer is Mb Stables, who did it previously with Commanding. Howl Of The Hound is now a perfect seven-for-seven in his racing career, and now the conversations about the TC will begin. We’ll be on the edge of our seats for the PRK in two weeks to see if it can happen. Congratulations to Mb Stables on this achievement! The winning jockey for the race is E Jaramillo, and it was interesting that no jockeys in the race had won the KYD previously. Well, E Jaramillo is now a virtual KYD winner, congratulations there as well. Howl Of The Hound covered the ten furlongs in 2:01.54, nearly identical to Royal Assembly’s winning time last year. It won’t go down as one of the fastest derbys in our history, but it didn’t need to be. Let’s take a look!

Out of the Gate- The break for the race seemed to be very important. It always is, but with many in the field seemingly being at their best when they have a stalking trip, there would only be so much room for horses to execute that strategy, if it is what their trainers wanted to see, tactically. Darth Charley would be the quickest of them all, making good use of his great post draw for Diablo Diablo, and right behind him would be the horse that started right next to him, Ricki Tikki Tavi, from La Canada Racehorses. Getting that stalking trip, while being four wide across the track, would be Tko, out of Fractious; Power Walk, from Mb Stables; Cheesy, from Keikowin Racing; and Locamotive, from Aer Stables. The last two did well to get over quickly from posts 19 and 20. They are five wide behind them, with Viral Breakdown holding the rail for Aer Stables. Besides that filly would be our eventual winner, Howl Of The Hound, from Mb Stables. He was approximately three lengths from the lead right here, so certainly he was not in a bad position to make a move later on. He had Resident Fox, trained by Fractious to his outside, and running in the fourth and fifth lanes here would be Sacred Order, for Alydar Stables, and Hint Of Sugar, from Arindel. Next up, and running by himself for the time being was Sports Page, a John Henry entry who was the second choice of the bettors. Now, we start to go more towards the back of the field, and this is where we see Invade The Storm (Saratoga Stud) and Plan To Wheel (Fractious), being slightly ahead of Princess Jasmine (Mo Mentum Farm) and Evergreen (Mb Stables), while Added Value (Alabarda Stable) stayed on the rail. Contradiction (Aer Stables) was behind them, and a tall order would now present itself for the two trailers, Pocantico (Smokey Stover) and Afterburner (Arindel).

(½ Mile- :48.08)- Once we reached a half mile, it was still Darth Charley on the front end, leading by half a length over Ricki Tikki Tavi, running a much more conventional pace than we saw here just a year ago. Go back a length and a half from them, and you will find two horses from Mb Stables. Power Walk is looking good for now in the third position, but she gets some company from Howl Of The Hound. So, the frontstretch proved to be an important part of the race for Howl Of The Hound the first time, moving up from the group of horses that it initially seemed like he would run with, and into the first group of stalkers. Locomotive did what he could on the outside, running fifth, and on the rail, Tko was sixth. It was very important in this race for Tko to start well, so his fans had to be happy to see where he was here. Cheesy was next, though had to cover extra race track while running five wide. Two Fractious runners, Plan To Wheel and Resident Fox, would join Viral Breakdown and Sports Page in the middle of the field. Further back, horses were presented the task now of figuring out how to get to the front while getting by the traffic in front of them,

(¾ Mile- 1:11.98)- Down the backstretch, it is still Darth Charley out in front, making Diablo Diablo wonder if he had enough spirit to win the KYD while going wire to wire. Ricki Tikki Tavi isn’t going anywhere, holding his line right to the outside, making us wonder if he would make a move for the lead soon in the turn. Power Walk was having a great trip so far, running third and starting to get closer to Ricki Tikki Tavi for a move of her own while in the turn. Howl Of The Hound watched all of this unfold right in front of him, and for a horse that only knows how to win, the set up of the race seemed great for him. It also was looking good for Cheesy, but only if he did not have to run five wide for most of this race. Locamotive probably felt like he was left on the siding instead of being able to get on the main track, too, but was making the most of it with a great run thus far. Tko, Plan To Wheel, Sports Page, and Viral Breakdown were in good striking position. A little further back, it would not be an insurmountable task for Hint Of Sugar, Resident Fox, or Sacred Order, but they had to get moving, now. Same for Invade The Storm, but it looked to be a harder route with traffic on the inside. The groans from the trainers of Evergreen, Added Value, Princess Jasmine, Pocantico, Contradiction, and Afterburner were now starting to be heard.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.8F To Go)- Darth Charley is still the leader, but the field is closing in on him in a hurry as they exit the turn and move into the stretch. Ricki Tikki Tavi has been to his outside the whole race, but has not made a move to try and pass for the lead, and now it was looking to be too late, as two Mb horses were joining them on the front end. At this moment, I thought Power Walk looked very good and that we might be talking about one of the fillies pulling this race off, but Howl Of The Hound was right there too, and now within a length from the lead. Beginning to join these front four would be Cheesy, and with him we will continue to wonder what might have been if he did not have this outside trip throughout. He was in a good spot for the stretch run, though. Viral Breakdown began to move up into a better position while her stablemate, Locamotive, dealt with an outside trip of her own. Tko and Sports Page were still in the picture here with a shot, and if Plan To Wheel and Hint Of Sugar had a big run coming, they were close enough to make it work, too. Everyone else began to see why winning this race is so difficult.

(Finish- 2:01.54)- In the stretch, Howl Of The Hound was able to get to the inside of his stablemate, and powered on by her and into the lead. The pacesetter, Darth Charley had nothing for him either, and soon into the stretch, Howl Of The Hound had the lead. On the outside, we had Cheesy, doing great on the outside and having plenty of run himself. This set up a good battle between two horses who each had a fantastic prep race season. For a moment, I thought that Cheesy was going to grab the win, but the Howl Of The Hound would be heard throughout of the virtual racing world, as the undefeated horse would not back down and takes the race narrowly over Cheesy. Locamotive came on well at the end to be third in a very tight photo with two fillies, Power Walk and Viral Breakdown, as well as Tko. Ricki Tikki Tavi’s day comes to an end in the seventh position, with Hint Of Sugar, Invade The Storm, and Sports Page rounding out the top ten. Darth Charley dropped to 11th, with Contradiction moving up to the 12th spot. Then it’s Added Value, Plan To Wheel, Sacred Order, Princess Jasmine, Resident Fox, Afterburner, Evergreen, and Pocantico. Congratulations to everyone on being part of this race, the finish will disappoint many, but getting here was a remarkable accomplishment!

About The Winner- Howl Of The Hound, trained by Mb Stables and ridden to victory by E Jaramillo, is a three year old gelding by Marry Me Mandy, and is out of Stop Traffic. She was bred in New Mexico by Jive Inc as a first quarter two year old, and acquired by Mb Stables when she was still unraced for $27.060 in the June auction. Congratulations to the connections! She’s a perfect seven for seven in her career, with five graded wins. Her career earnings are now $2,626.000. We’ll see you at PIM in pursuit of the TC, good luck!

Track: Fast
Time: :48   1:11⁴  1:36¹  2:01²

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 8 – 19 Paid 481.40
$1 Trifecta: 8 – 19 – 20 Paid 1,583.50

Scratched: Breath Of The Wild, Need 4 Speed, Booster, Brave Companion

— NS

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES, TC 2021-2023, THE TRIPLE CROWN