River City Handicap (Grade 3)- $300.000 Purse
CD- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Turf
November 9, 2024

Everything had been going great for Tower Isle until he went to SA for the City Of Hope Mile. Trainer Winning Link Stables was hoping that would simply be one bad race and that his lightly raced five-year-old gelding could bounce back in the River City Handicap. Tower Isle would step up and deliver, edging out Devils Delight for the win! We did not have the gelding among our picks, but the bettors at least thought a lot more of him, making him the second choice. The win is the first in the River City Handicap for Winning Link Stables and the second for jockey G Corrales. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:44.57, the third fastest in the race’s history. Let’s take a look at it:

(½ Mile- :46.27)- Showable Set jumps out to the lead for Angelos Stable, and he will open up by two lengths over second place, Team 7 Illusions- trained, Proud Devil. He’s a length and a half ahead of the rest of the field, and right behind him, we have our eventual winner from Winning Link Stables, Tower Isle. He runs in the second lane right now, and at this point things look very similar to how they will at the wire, as Devils Delight is right beside him for Big Jd Racing. It’s a length back to Violent Crime (Diablo Diablo) and another to Cover Charge (Riggins Racing). War Tactics (Cjj Racing) is way out of it.

(3/4 Mile- 1:09.64)- Showable Set continues to hold an uncontested lead by about two lengths down the backstretch and moving into the turn. Proud Devil remains second for now, but Tower Isle is ready to make his move forward at the top of the turn, and at this point he pulls out a length on Devils Delight, something that would become very important later on. Nothing wrong with how Devils Delight is running, as he is still fourth and also poised to get around his fellow Devil. It’s about two lengths to Violent Crime and Cover Charge while War Tactics has a lot of ground to make up.

(Top of Stretch, 1.8F To Go)- Entering the stretch, Showable Set is still the leader, but his lead has almost evaporated entirely. Tower Isle would go three wide into the turn and had taken over the second spot prior to entering the stretch while only needing to make up a length on the leader. Devils Delight is running well, also, and closing at a similar rate, but that length that Tower Isle put on him at the end of the backstretch would continue to loom large. Proud Devil is still in the mix in fourth with about a two-length gap to the rest of the field. Cover Charge leads the back group, ahead of Violent Crime. War Tactics joined these two and was closing in a hurry. Could the longshot find his way to the front?

(Finish- 1:44.57)- Once Tower Isle caught Showable Set, he made quick work of him. He was continuing to run well, and needed too, because Devils Delight was still right there beside him. Tower Isle would dig in, but as the wire got closer, we started to see Devils Delight possibly inching closer just in time. It would create a photo, and a tight finish, but in the end, it is Tower Isle and Winning Link Stables getting the win. Devils Delight did nothing wrong and takes second, a length ahead of the rapidly closing War Tactics. It’s another length to Cover Charge, taking the fourth-place check narrowly over Showable Set. Proud Devil and Violent Crime round it out.

About The Winner- Tower Isle, trained by Winning Link Stables and ridden to victory by G Corrales, is a five-year-old gelding by Devils Tower and is out of Bewitching. He was bred by Winning Link Stables in California as a second quarter two-year-old and they have been together throughout. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his fourth in six starts, his second stake win and first graded win. His career earnings are now $507.600.

Track: Firm
Time: :46¹  1:09³  1:33¹  1:44²

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 3 – 1 Paid 16.70
$1 Trifecta: 3 – 1 – 4 Paid 1,627.00

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES