PA Nursery Stakes ($200.000 Purse)
PRX- For Two Year Olds Foaled in PA
Seven Furlongs on the Dirt
December 7, 2021

On paper, Warrior Of Chiefs was the best horse in the field. After all, no one else came anywhere close to running in the BC Juvenile. Warrior Of Chiefs may not have had a great finish against the best two year olds in the game, and would certainly benefit from a great race in the PA Nursery Stakes to get back on track. He went off at odds of 5/1, and was not even the top choice of the two entries of his trainer, Wood Duck Stables. He was our second choice, with our top pick, Bladamiro, also going off at 5/1. After seven furlongs, there would be three of them involved in a tight finish, but this gelding would get the win for Wood Duck Stables in the photo over two Arindel running mates. It’s the first win in the stake for the trainer, and second for the rider, the usual king of PRX, F Pennington. Congratulations to them! The time of the race was 1:22.01, the second fastest in stake history, with the quickest also being the other race won by Pennington. Let’s take a look!

(¼ Mile- :23.16)- Mulch leads the way for Wood Duck Stables, breaking well from the rail and pulling out to a lead of a length and a half. He’ll have two stalking him, with on being our eventual winner and his stablemate, Warrior Of Chiefs. Keeping to his outside is the Acber Farms trained entry, Realms Of Gold. For now, Pro Time, from Williams9 is visible on the viewer, a length behind them. Close behind are the two trailers, each running for Arindel, The Skipper Too and Bladamiro. They are about 3-4 lengths from the lead.

(½ Mile: 46.40)- Mulch continues to lead down the backstretch, but soon into the turn, he will have some company. Warrior Of Chiefs has drawn to be within a length, running in the third lane. Realms Of Gold is keeping pace and also looking to move forward at this point and The Skipper Too seems to have a good position on the track to come between Mulch and Warrior Of Chiefs. Bladamiro is hanging with this crowd in the middle of the pack too, and has to do so while running in the fourth lane. Pro Time is quickly becoming an afterthought.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.7F To Go)- Warrior Of Chiefs looks very good in the turn, and takes over the lead from his stablemate entering the stretch. He’s also been able to put a little distance between he and Realms Of Gold, so at least for now, it was unclear who would be the biggest challenger for Warrior Of Chiefs to deal with. The Skipper Too had pulled to within a length, and on the outside, Bladamiro was making some progress as well.

(Finish- 1:22.01)- Warrior Of Chiefs continues to look sharp early in the stretch, and with a furlong to go, it seemed as though he was going to hang on without the need for trainer Wood Duck Stables to hold their breath to the wire. But in the dying moments, the two Arindel runners each dug in and looked to take the win away. The Skipper Too was coming on the inside of Warrior Of Chiefs, and Bladamiro on the outside. In the end, Warrior Of Chiefs hands on by a head over The Skipper Too, who beat Bladamiro by the same margin. It’s about two lengths to Realms Of Gold, taking the fourth place check by half a length over Mulch. Then, over a second later, we can report that Pro Time did finish as well.

About The Winner- Warrior Of Chiefs, trained by Wood Duck Stables and ridden to victory by F Pennington, is a two year old gelding by Sweet Grades and is out of The Roxy. He was bred in this great breeding state by Wood Duck Stables as a first quarter two year old, and they have been together throughout. The win is his third in six starts, and his first stake win of any sort. His career earnings are now $278.200.

Track: Fast
Time: :23   :46²  1:09⁴  1:22

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 2 – 4 Paid 25.90
$1 Trifecta: 2 – 4 – 6 Paid 38.40

Scratched: None

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded