Ali – Grade III
1 3/16 Mile Dirt Stake Purse $350.000 Open 4 Year Olds And Up.

1st= Spankersville The Sidley Stud Alvarado F T

Well, first of all let’s celebrate a great horse and ignore how terrible this race looked visually. The two winners ended up so wide on the track that it looked like they were on the way to the bar and the rest of the field finished in a heap behind them. Visually terrible but the race itself between these two dead heaters was exciting. Spankersville, the BC champion returned to winning form getting first run on Fried Chicken and showing all his experience and even though it looked like he had been pipped for the win on the Atari race viewer he had in fact held on to record his 17th win and inch closer to that magical $10,000,000 in winnings mark.

1st= Fried Chicken Angelos Stable Elliott S

Claimed from Wood Duck Stables for just $16.000, he has now won four from six for his new owner with this being by far his career best. The fast early pace certainly suited his late closing style as he trailed the field for much of the race and despite getting a difficult passage still managed to get up on the line. Visually I thought he had won but a dead heat against the reigning BC champion is a pretty good result, and I am sure Angelos will be breaking out the Champagne tonight.

3rd Berlin The Sidley Stud Curtis B

With just two tenths of a second between third and last the rest of the field looked like they had been running in a four-and-a-half-furlong race at CT. As it was Berlin held on to the line for third and although well beaten by the first two, did very well after contesting a fast pace for most of the race. The seven-year-old continues to live in the shadow of his stable mate but doesn’t seem to have lost any of his luster and is sure to add to his great record before the end of the year.

4th Wicked Awesome Night Rider Stables Bejarano R

Raced alongside Spankersville but Bejarano didn’t pick the path that the winner did, and he just battled away with the rest of the pack for minor prizes. This was a fair effort considering his pretty average form but as an eight-year-old his days are probably numbered.

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES