BC Dirt Mile (Grade 1)- $1,000.000 Purse
DMR- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile on the Dirt
November 2, 2024

Not much time would pass after Fractious visited the winner’s circle with Chisel in the BC Sprint, and after he had finished second in the BC Mile right before it, his big day would continue in the BC Dirt Mile. This seemed like it would be a good race for him, as he brought three very good horses here, two of which were in our top four picks. The one that was not among our picks was Lunar Victory as the gelding just seemed a little too inconsistent in comparison to others. In the end, the three horses from Fractious would all finish in the top four, with only a third place run by West Lunacy Party preventing a sweep of the top spots. This is the second in the BC Dirt Mile for Fractious, as he also won in 2019 with Unfold. R M Hernandez is the winning rider and does so for the second year in a row and third time total. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:34.06, significantly better than the two prior editions run at DMR. Let’s take a look at it now!

(1/4 Mile- :22.59)- Test The Waters will jump out to the lead for Mb Stables and is all by himself as they make their way around the opening turn. It’s a length and a half to the Jerry Garcia Stables- trained Excoriator in second, and another length to Xavier Breath, who broke sharply from the outside for Maxmillion Farm. It’s behind that the pack begins to form, with a four wide group battling it out for the fourth spot. The race’s eventual winner, Lunar Victory, is a head in front of the other three here for Fractious, as he has the Our Athletes- trained Good Knights to his outside, and Mb Stables’ Tehran to his inside. In the fourth lane, Threshold’s Pompano Beach also runs with this group. Running a length behind them are Rock Creek’s Domiano and Edward The Good, from Fractious. On Schedule (Mb Stables) runs in close proximity to them, then it’s a gap of about two more to the rest of the pack, which consists of Charming Man (Rock Creek), One Last Punch Line (Alydar Stables), West Lunacy Party (Black N Gold Stable), and Speter (Fractious).

(½ Mile- :45.65)- It’s all Test The Waters out in front, as he opens up a commanding three length lead over the rest of the field. Excoriator is second, half a length ahead of Xavier Breath. Running fourth is Lunar Victory, would could potentially come between those two in the backstretch if he wanted to do so. Tehran and Good Knights are still running on each side of him, with Pompano Beach still in the fourth lane, but they have additional company now as Charming Man made a move from further back with a clear lane to continue his advance. On Schedule, Edward The Good, and Domiano are situated right behind that group of four. Further back, all of Speter, One Last Punch Line and West Lunacy Party have conceded a lot of ground over the first half of the race.

(Top of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- Test The Waters is no stranger to running out on the lead early, but it seems like he may have overdone it as the rest of the field starts to close in on him a little quicker and sooner than the trainer may have wanted to see. At the top of the final turn, there was enough room for Lunar Victory to come between Excoriator and Xavier Breath, and he would seize this opportunity with authority. By the time they hit the top of the stretch, Lunar Victory had not only moved into the second position, but he had left those two rivals in his dust as he closed in on Test The Waters. At this point, it didn’t seem like Test The Waters had a chance of holding him off, but perhaps new challengers would emerge from further back. The only one looking like a threat to him here was his stablemate, Edward The Good, but that one was significantly wide entering the stretch. Horses like Tehran, Good Knights, Pompano Beach, and Charming Man were simply running evenly with the leader, at best. Perhaps one of the others further back had a strong run coming.

(Finish- 1:34.06)- With a furlong to go, Lunar Victory would take over the lead, and as far as the trainer was concerned, no one else in this field looked like a threat to his victory. Edward The Good, another Fractious horse, looked strong on the outside and was the only one that possibly could have a shot. But the task was too much for that one, as Lunar Victory goes on to win the race by close to two lengths over his stablemate. West Lunacy Party worked through traffic late to get up for third and prevent an all- Fractious trifecta. Speter was way outside and takes the fourth-place check. Test The Waters settles for fifth, beating One Last Punch Line, On Schedule, Excoriator, Domaino, Charming Man, Tehran, Pompano Beach, Xavier Breath and Good Knights.

About the Winner- Lunar Victory, trained by Fractious and ridden to victory by R M Hernandez, is a four-year-old gelding by Residue and is out of Havre de Grace. He was bred in Ontario as a third quarter two-year-old by Fractious, the only trainer for which he has ever known. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his fifth in 22 starts, his fourth stake win and third graded win. His career earnings are now $1,673.960.

Track: Fast
Time: :22²  :45³  1:09⁴  1:34

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 2 – 10 Paid 68.30
$1 Trifecta: 2 – 10 – 7 Paid 1,615.00

Scratched: Best Of West, General Zod

— NS

Categories: BC 2024, Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES, THE BREEDERS CUP