PRX Dirt Mile ($300.000 Purse)
PRX- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile on the Dirt
September 21, 2024

Heading into the PRX Dirt Mile, Knoblauch had accomplished a lot over his 22-race career, but the one thing that he had done yet was win a race that was a mile or more. He’s been able to win sprints, and has run competitively in longer races, but until now, he was not able to say that he had won one. That has now changed as the gelding went on to win by nearly a length for the biggest victory of his career! The gelding is trained by Angelos Stable and had M E Smith aboard. For each, it is their first career PRX Dirt Mile win. Congratulations to them! He was not among our picks, and in retrospect, I don’t know why he wasn’t. Oh well, can’t change that now. The race was won in a time of 1:34.28, which is the fastest of the four editions of the race that have been run. Let’s take a look at it now:

(1/4 Mile- :23.20)- Threshold’s Pompano Beach is the quickest of the starting gate, but he will have some company on the front end as Maxmillion Farm’s Crumbler is within a half-length to his outside. Alive runs by himself in third for Riggins Racing, and it’s another length to our eventual winner, Angelos Stable’s Knoblauch, who runs along the rail, looking to go 3-for-3 in his career when he’s drawn the rail. It’s another length to Everythings Fine (TwinTowersRacing) and Don’t Miss It (John Henry), who run next to one another.

(½ Mile- :46.63)- It’s a good battle up front between Pompano Beach and Crumbler, but we still have half a mile to go. They’ve put some more separation between them and the rest of the field down the backstretch, with the third place Alive being about two and a half lengths behind them. Knoblauch continues to run in fourth while staying on the rail as he has no reason to venture off of it. Don’t Miss It and Everythings Fine are still at the back but are not far back.

(Top of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- There’s no change at the front of the field as Pompano Beach and Crumbler still lead the way around the turn. However, about midway through the turn, we see Knoblauch beginning to show more interest. He does not have any difficulty passing Alive for third and inches his way closer to the two frontrunners, being only a length a half behind now. Don’t Miss It is looking good as well, pushing forward from the back, and goes wide entering the stretch, passing Alive and hoping for more. Everythings Fine is by himself at the rear of the field.

(Finish- 1:34.28)- Early in the stretch, Knoblauch would continue to gradually close in on the leaders, but it would not be until the final furlong to where he would clearly look better than them. He’d make the pass on the inside, keeping to his perfect rail trip, and wins while pulling away at the end! Behind him, we have a tight three-way photo, and it sees Pompano Beach narrowly hanging on to complete the exacta over late running Don’t Miss It, then fellow pacesetter, Crumbler. Alive and Everythings Fine round it out.

About the Winner- Knoblauch, trained by Angelos Stable, and ridden to victory by M E Smith, is a five-year-old gelding by Thoughtful Idea, and is out of Shinnecock Hills. He was bred in California as a third quarter two-year-old by Royalty Stables and was acquired by Angelos Stable with a $40.000 claim from Night Rider Stables in June 2023. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his ninth in 23 starts and second stake win. His career earnings are now $674.030.

Track: Fast
Time: :23¹  :46³  1:10¹  1:34¹

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 1 – 2 Paid 150.70
$1 Trifecta: 1 – 2 – 6 Paid 980.80

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded