The National Museum of Racing – Grade II
1 1/16 Mile Inner Turf Stake Purse $200.000 Open 3 Year Olds.

1st   K T Warrior  Maxmillion Farm            Alvarado J
I am going to take a liberty here as i write up the victory of this 100/1 outsider and will take some time looking at just what Maxmillion can achieve with horses with some grass under their hooves. This horse has a best public mile work of 1.35 and 1 H and 5 furlong work on a flat track of 58H flat. Now if you compare that fact first with the next two home we see that Nitemare has a 1.34 and 3H mile work and a 57 and 2H 5 furlong work. The third horse Chipotle has no comparable works this year but did work 1.35 and 3 for  mile on the turf as a two year old. So its safe to say that work times wasnt the reason for K T Warriors win today. So what about race times? K T Warrior managed a 1.33 and 2 in winning his only other race and took todays race in 1.41 and 3 on good ground. The runner up Nitemare had previously won a stakes race in 1.33 flat for the mile so again race winning times does not seem to hold the key to this success. On form Nitemare has won a grade two and been beaten a length at grade one level in his last two starts, K T Warrior had been beaten in a couple of allowances so again there is nothing there and if we look at the off track as being a reason we will see that Nitemare won his grade two on a good track. The ONLY thing i can allude to that could have made the difference with this horse is that it was gelded after his last start and if all it takes is a gelding operation to turn a maiden winner that has been beaten in 7 previous races of much lower grade then i think the vets at HRP are going to be inundated with a long time of equine patients.
So i am once again left marvelling at the almost magical quality that Maxmillion Farm seems to have when it comes to winning turf races. Whatever it is this horse rose to the occasion with a determined late run that saw him prevail by a head and left us all marvelling once more at the turf kings ability to find the grass lovers.

2nd   Nitemare  D J C Racing Stables  Velazquez J R
I thought this one would win with a  decent trip and to be honest he couldnt have got a better trip from a wide draw but somehow he still got beat. There is no doubt this is a very good turfer but today he just came up short.

3rd   Chipotle     Mb Stables                Saez L
I was worried about this one getting the trip and it seems so was his trainer because he was taken right back in the early stages to save some energy. As it turned out he was given too much to do and ran on late for third beaten just a length. This was a good effort and this sort of race should be in his scope.

4th   Lucky Phooey  Estero Farms                Bravo J
He was probably working better than the three that beat him and had also covered a mile in a  race quicker than most of them but today he had to settle for a one paced fourth in a race that had me scratching my head.

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES