Makers Mark Mile – Grade I
1 Mile Turf Stake Purse $600.000 Open 4 Year Olds And Up.

I am not sure I have seen a race recently that says more about horse racing at HRP than this one. The wet track certainly put a cat among the pigeons but even with that, which usually ends in a spread-out field, we saw a dead heat and a multiple photo finish with even the last horse just a few lengths back and the first four covered by a cigarette paper. You could indeed say this was an exciting finish to a race and it certainly was to the onlooker with the result not determined until the photo was developed.

Here is how they finished:

1st= King Luka Night Rider Stables Centeno D E

I mentioned in the preview for this race that there one thing in this horse’s form line that gave it a chance and that was a 1.34 flat work on the 27th of February. We must remember that this horse had a two from twenty record before this race with just a maiden and an allowance win on his record. In fact, the highest level he had ever raced before was a grade three. But and there is always a but at HRP because any horse can win at this level if the improvement curve is heading up at the right time and all the stars align. Today all the stars aligned for this horse and who knows what happens next for him. I am not sure he is just a wet tracker, but this was his first race on the turf in the wet, in three previous runs on dirt tracks he had been no better than average so maybe his next start will answer that question. So, if it wasn’t the wet track we can only put it down to that rather random improvement curve, but I don’t want for that to sound disparaging because that would be unfair to the owner. Night Rider bred this one and saw it win its debut in 2020, it would take three years for him to win again and in that time, it was offered for $25.000 in a claimer. Fortunately for the breeder it wasn’t claimed that day and today the years of patience with this horse have finally been rewarded.

1st= Jacks Courage Mb Stables Franco M

If someone tried to convince me that the surface really matters, then this is another example that at the top level a good horse can do just as well on either surface. This horse a close fourth in the BC Classic last year ran wide for a long way and it has to be said if this was real life, he would’ve given at least two lengths to the other dead heater and would be considered unlucky not to get the win out right. Trip, surface and draw seem to mean very little to this very good horse, and it now looks like he is BC bound on a different surface for the champion trainer.

3rd Albaquirky Santan Stables Geroux F

I thought the off track would be the key to this one winning and to be fair he very nearly did but in the end the pace was just a tick off the Kilroe Mile that he won so convincingly over this trip last time and that in the end was the difference between his late run coming off or just failing. He lost nothing in defeat today and it will be interesting to see how this top three race together if they meet again in the BC Mile.

4th Winter Book Fractious Lopez P

If ever there was a random factor in this result it was the fact that this one had run so averagely in the Kilroe Mile in the same conditions but ran so much better today. It doesn’t make much sense that his late run should be so much stronger off a slower pace, but he was just a neck off the win at the end and ran a cracker. Maybe it was the draw, the jockey AI, I guess we will never know why the last two runs were in such contrast. I am sure we will see combinations of this field contesting all the top mile races this year and, on this effort, there is no reason why he can’t get a win against the top three at some point.

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES