Rock Creek Uses “Charm” to Take Challenger at TAM

By Cozman on March 9, 2025 • ( 0 )

3/8/2025

6 TAM The Challenger Stakes (GIII)

$125.000 4yo 11/16th Mile Dirt 122lbs + penalties

It was a swing and a miss for us, handicapping this one… but at nearly 9/1 odds, I don’t think a log of gamblers had Rock Creek’s Charming Man on top in Saturday’s The Challenger Stakes (GIII), here at TAM. The 5yo bay gelded son of Storming – Hobbitsville, by Neon Wolf, didn’t get a damn about the punters and closed well to hit the front in the lane, then drawing away late to win by a length while stopping the clock at 1:40.51, a new stakes record and just off of the track record for the mile and a sixteenth distance. The main oval was listed as Fast.

Officer Chaimura from the Asgar outfit was in the mix throughout this one, and took home the second spot, dismissed at 15/1 odds and helping a $220.10 exacta to form. It wouldn’t be a weekend of stakes action without at least 20-or-so dead-heats, and we had one for the minor placings as Mb Stables’ Edward The Good and Riggins Racing’s Ruble Ready were somewhat close in the end, and that’s good enough for this game. Eight lengths covered the field of eleven and there were no scratches in this one.