The Queens County Handicap ($125.000 Purse)
AQU- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
December 22, 2018

It may have been his 21st career race, but Oklahoma turned out what might have been his career best effort here in the Queens Country Handicap, leading us to be optimistic about his five year old season. Despite being left out of the picks here, he went off as the second choice for the race and proved those who supported him right. I believed in Opus with my pick, and that did not go too well at all. The winning trainer is Mb Stables, scoring his second win in the last three runnings of this race, winning in 2015 as well with Announcement. (There was no race in 2017). Jockey J Alvarado wins for the second time, and they have come in consecutive editions of the race. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:47.62. It’s next to impossible to compare times of this race as the conditions have not run exactly the same since its inception. At any rate, let’s take a look at it!

(½ Mile- :47.45)- The Spaniard gets off to the quickest start from the gate for trainer Big Jd Racing, and showed the way down the frontstretch and into the opening turn. The advantage is a length over Nakamura Stables’ Lost In Truth into the turn, and as they make their way around it. Moving into the backstretch, Lost In Truth eventually starts to cut into that lead and is pulling up to side of The Spaniard at a half mile. The rest of the field runs in a straight line after them, pretty much. Our eventual winner, Oklahoma, is content to stay on the rail and run in third, sitting just over two lengths from the lead for Mb Stables. Two lengths back we have Believe In Opus, for Mo Mentum Farm, another to Sweep The Fire (Nj Vets), and yet another to Commander Die Hard (TwinTowersRacing).

(3/4 Mile- 1:11.00)- Over the next two furlongs, the 61/1 longshot Lost In Truth will reel in, and ultimately pass The Spaniard for the race lead. However, The Spaniard isn’t going anywhere and holds his ground well on the inside. Oklahoma begins to make his move, particularly on entry to the far turn. He looks to move into the third lane and prepare for a three wide move as he pulls to being about a length back. At this point, we had to wonder is this was becoming a three horse race, because a large gap was now created between third and fourth of over four lengths. Believe In Opus, Sweep The Fire, and Commander Die Hard all had a lot of ground to make up now if they wanted to factor into things.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.8F To Go)- Not too much of a change as they make their way around the far turn. Lost In Truth still led as he hoped to light up the board, and The Spaniard was still keeping close on the inside. However, it was clear here that Oklahoma was the horse to watch. He had made the three wide move during the turn, and at the top of the stretch he had a length to make up. Lost In Truth looked like he would put up a decent fight, but at this point if you’ve seen enough of these races you probably knew what was inevitable. There was still a large gap to the rest of the field, as no closing bids were occurring yet.

(Finish- 1:47.62)- Lost In Truth would still run well, but with every stride in the stretch, Oklahoma gained a bit of a ground, and over this long AQU front stretch, that is all that would be needed. With just under a furlong to go, Oklahoma was now in front, and picks up the big win. Lost In Truth ran a good second, losing by a length, with third place The Spaniard just to his inside. There was a gap of two and a half lengths to Sweep The Fire, who ran well in the stretch but simply conceded too much ground. It was another two to Commander Die Hard, and Believe In Opus rounds it out after a true head scratcher of a race.

About The Winner- Oklahoma, trained by Mb Stables, and ridden to victory by J Alvarado, is a four year old gelding by Jesse James, and is out of Hails Ground. He was bred in Florida by Big Jd Racing as a yearling, and acquired by Mb Stables, via Spinetingling, in private sales back in May for $45.000. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his seventh in 21 starts, and his second stake win. His career earnings are now $213.490.

Track: Fast
Time: :47²  1:11   1:35   1:47³

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 1 – 5 Paid 123.60
$1 Trifecta: 1 – 5 – 6 Paid 750.50

Scratched: None

— NS

Thanks to everyone for reading! Have a happy holiday, and I’ll see you here again next year!

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded