RP Springboard Mile (KYD)- $400.000 Purse
RP- For Two Year Olds
One Mile on the Dirt
December 16, 2018

Two winners, two very different means of getting there. The fourth edition the RP Springboard Mile was an exciting race, and it will go down in history as having two winners, as both Fear The Dragon and Beach Dandy hit the wire together. That’s about the only thing the two winners had in common. Fear The Dragon went out to the lead early, set the pace, and proved again that you can go wire to wire in this game at this level. Fear The Dragon had a rather clean trip throughout. Meanwhile, Beach Dandy went to the back, and seemed to be wide for most of this race. That was especially true on exit of the far turn and into the stretch, as he was halfway to the grandstand in the lane he was in. These two paths would meet exactly one mile later, and after checking on the photo the two of them will share in the win. Fear The Dragon is trained by LionKing Stables and Beach Dandy trained by Joshua Stables, each winning the race for the first time. Their jockeys were L Saez and J J Castellano, respectively. They are also both first time winners. The race went in a time of 1:35.14. Let’s take a look!

(1/4 Mile- :23.39)- Fresh out of the gate, we see Fear The Dragon, one of our winners looking sharp and eager to get to the front for Lion King Stables. He has an initial challenger in the form of Shake It Up And Go, from John Henry, but he clears that rival and leads by a length after a quarter mile. Cardinal Direction, from Mb Stables, got off to a steady start as well, and pulled up to the inside of Shake It Up And Go for the second position. Fourth on the rail would be Gdp Inc’s Be One, keeping close to the front horses. After a length, Storming runs fifth for John Henry while running in the third lane, and he will have Di Bug (Night Rider Stables) and Demolition Man (Winning Link Stables) running to his inside. Next up come Hard Cider (D J C Racing Stables) and Quenched (Aer Stables), a couple of names that would be fitting to run together. At the back there were three who had a tough start as they went to the back of the field, and Beach Dandy (Joshua Stables) was a part of this group. He was about seven wide rounding the first turn, situated between Questionable (Mb Stables) and Lionking Invader (Estero Farms). Only the latter had a wider trip then Beach Dandy at this juncture.

(½ Mile- :46.74)- Fear The Dragon keeps running well on the front end, running a similar second quarter as he had the first. He now pulls away slightly, enjoying a now two length advantage over Shake It Up And Go and Cardinal Direction as the two of them still run by side for second, with Be One close on the rail. We don’t see a whole lot of passing or notable moves further back in the field as they head down the backstretch. Di Bug is a bit ahead of Storming and Demolition in one group of three, followed by Quenched and Hard Cider. Questionable was able to move to the rail, as would Lionking Invader. However, Beach Dandy stayed to the outside, moving to the fourth lane.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- Fear The Dragon continues to look sharp as he shows the way around the turn and into the top of the stretch. There was no let up, and LionKing Stables had to be thrilled to see him with two length advantage still in tact. Shake It Up And Go would become a little better then Cardinal Direction and Be One at this point, but he was not making up any considerable ground. Further back, there was a lot of shuffling around as Di Bug looked to the outside of Cardinal Direction, Quenched looked for room, and Hard Cider needed to come down from his outside lane in order to make a run of his own. This would force Beach Dandy to keep going outside and outside more. Beach Dandy was coming, and in great stride at this point, but given all the extra race track that he had to cover, and a front runner that was still looking good, this would be tough. Demolition Man and Questionable did not have any room to make a move even if they good. Lionking Invader had room on the rail, but a lot of ground to make up.

(Finish- 1:35.14)- In the stretch, all eyes were on Beach Dandy and Fear The Dragon. Beach Dandy was showing the incredible stretch desire that also allowed him to win the BC Juvenile last month. It was not easy, having to do so in such an outer lane, but J J Castellano knew gave it his best shot. Fear The Dragon had put everyone else away. Shake It Up And Go was looking good and was clearly going to be the best to our co-winners, but he would need a little more to be the winner here. Closer to the wire, the bid by Beach Dandy was valiant. The effort of Fear The Dragon impressive to hold on. One pacesetter with a clean trip. One closer with a wide trip. Very different routes to get to their final destination. In the end, a photo was examined and there could be no winner declared. Fear The Dragon and Beach Dandy will have different stories to tell in how they ran their race, and each will share in this Springboard Mile win. In the final half furlong, Shake It Up And Go did look like he found another gear and was a lot closer then it seemed like he might be. John Henry should be happy with his third place performer here. Di Bug gets the fourth place check, and Quenched slipped by Cardinal Direction late. Rounding out the order are Hard Cider, Be One, Lionking Invader, Questionable, Demolition Man, and Storming. Just one full second separated first from last.

About The Winners: Fear The Dragon, trained by LionKing Stables and ridden to victory by L Saez, is a two year old gelding by Mazula Ruler, and is out of Hustle On Home. (He did exactly that!). He was bred in the great breeding state of Pennsylvania as a yearling by Acber Farms and acquired by LionKing in private sales this September for $126.120. Congratulations to the connctions! The win is his second in seven starts and his first stake win of any sort. His career earnings are now $207.070.

Beach Dandy, trained by Joshua Stables and ridden to victory by J J Castellano is a two year old gelding by Beachcomber, and is out of the late Living Dandy. He was bred in California by Langley Farms as a first quarter two year old, and acquired by Joshua Stables while he was still unraced in the June auction for $17.240. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his fourth in five starts, and his third stake win. His career earnings are now $1,622.240.

Track: Fast
Scratched: None

Winner Picked By NS (#10)

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded