The Blame (Grade 3)- $275.000 Purse
CD- For Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
June 1, 2024

If Fractious decided to scratch Lunar Victory because of the sloppy track conditions, no one would have criticized the move. The gelding had struggled in his previous off track races but things were about to be much different in the Blame. On this day, Lunar Victory thrived in the rain, scoring a two length, wire to wire win! For Fractious, it is his first win in the Blame and that is also true for jockey R L Moore. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:53.18, and here’s a look at it:

(½ Mile- :48.43)- Lunar Victory isn’t messing around straight from the gate, as the eventual winner from Fractious quickly pulls away from the rest of the field and leads by two lengths. America First is the second-place horse, running by himself for TwinTowersRacing, a length and a half ahead of Martyparty’s Face The Lunatic. It’s the same gap to the remaining three, who are running alongside one another. Threshold’s Uranus is a head in front on the outside, with Mo Mentum Farm’s Personal Ruler riding the rail and High Voltage’s Caveat Emptor between horses.

(3/4 Mile- 1:13.78)- The lead for Lunar Victory only gets bigger as they complete the backstretch portion and enter turn. He’s now about four lengths in front, as America First loses ground and as Face The Lunatic now looking to get by to his outside. Uranus swings out wide at the top of the turn to make a run, leaving Personal Ruler and Caveat Emptor to themselves in the back.

(Top of Stretch, 1.8F To Go)- Lunar Victory has gotten away from them, continuing to pour it on like the rain that made track sloppy in the first place. You can never say for sure that a race is in the bag at the top of the stretch, but it certainly looked highly likely. Uranus did move into second with his outside run, but he did not seem to be making any progress on Lunar Victory. Face The Lunatic was third, and America First dropped to fourth. Still nothing being seen from either Personal Ruler or Caveat Emptor.

(Finish- 1:53.18)- It’s all Lunar Victory in the stretch, as he goes on to a dominant win by two and a half lengths. This is all the more impressive considering that unlike El Salvador in the Shawnee, Lunar Victory was definitely not known as a mudder before the race. Uranus gets second, with an almost two length gap back to the third place Face The Lunatic. Caveat Emptor was officially beaten by six lengths, but still gets the fourth place check, ahead of Personal Ruler and America First.

About The Winner- Lunar Victory, trained by Fractious and ridden to victory by R L Moore, is a four-year-old gelding by Residue and is out of Havre de Grace. He was bred as a third quarter two-year-old in Ontario by Fractious, and they have been together throughout. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his third in 18 starts, his second stake win and first graded win. His career earnings are now $457.960.

Track: Sloppy
Time: :48²  1:13³  1:39⁴  1:53

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 6 – 7 Paid 17.80
$1 Trifecta: 6 – 7 – 5 Paid 19.30

Scratched: Sunrise Bay

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES