Animal Kingdom Stakes
6 Furlongs Dirt Stake Purse $250.000 Open 3 Year Olds.

1st On Tap Winning Link Stables Jimenez A

The official margin from first to ninth was one length which pretty much says it all. The winner was going to be the horse that had an inch more than anyone else at the end and it was this one today who seemed to have that. In the stalk off a fast pace is often a terrible place to be but today the AI timed the move to perfection and in the end with everything fanning out and trying to get a run it proved vital as the gelded son of Apples To Oranges held on by a nose. After he failed in the SUN Derby, a return to sprinting seemed obvious but that was the case of a few here it was he who had the speed and the energy to make it count. I have no idea whether this result would be the same if this race were run in a month but for now, this was a great result for the stable and the horse who has undoubted ability as a young sprinter.

2nd Just A Misfit Team 7 Illusions Corbett G W

With all the visiting superstar jockeys taking rides here it was interesting that the two-track jockeys finished first and second, who says AI can’t learn ay! This previously unbeaten son of People Pleaser went off at a rate of knots and to be fair to him, he did incredibly well to keep the gallop up to be involved in the photo finish. He certainly looks the type that will be around the top sprinting ranks in his generation, and one feels with just a touch more restraint today he would have had enough left to hold on.

3rd Coronado Beach Alydar Stables Lezcano J

The pace certainly suited the closers but a big field over six furlongs is always going to present traffic problems and though better it is still an issue with this new race engine. This one flew home for third as well as you can fly through a wall of horses but then there were a lot of fast finishers and none of them could time their run to beat the on-pace horses. The crawl through the last furlong was painful to watch for both the on-pace horses who were paddling and the fast finishers who were trying to fly through porridge but in the end, no one could reach the leaders.

4th Soho Story Allinthegate Hernandez R M

Another fast finisher, I feel we can write ditto for most of the closers today and it was the usual story of who got the best run on the day.

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded