The Harrods Creek ($300.000 Purse)
CD- For Three Year Olds
Seven Furlongs on the Dirt
September 23, 2023
The Harrods Creek ran for the third time on Saturday, with a field of ten looking to pick up the winner’s portion of the $300.000 purse. Getting the upper hand here would be the Fractious- trained Wyatt Langmore, a gelding by Count The Stars that the trainer picked up with a $25.000 claim in February. Now, seven months later, Wyatt Langmore has picked up his second stake win, but the biggest of his career. Fractious has now won two of the three runnings of The Harrods Creek, and jockey J Loveberry is a first-time winner. Congratulations to them! Wyatt Langmore was not among our picks for the race, but he was still spoken highly of in the preview, so he’s not a surprise winner, and did go off as the second choice of the bettors. The race was won in a time of 1:21.37, the quickest of the three editions of the race thus far. Here’s a look at it!
(1/4 Mile- :22.13)- Two Million breaks sharply out of the gate, and the entry from Asgar will have the upper hand by a length as they run down the backstretch. There are three stalking him, with the outside runner Delightful Rubicon, from TwinTowersRacing, having a slight upper hand amongst them. Our eventual winner, Wyatt Langmore, sits comfortably between horses for Fractious while on the rail Silent Murder keeps pace for Mb Stables. After a gap of two lengths, Mellow Magic (Riggins Racing) leads the rest of the field with post-time favorite (Arindel) nearby and Fox Final Time (Spankys Barn). Our pick to win, Timber Snake (T Boy Racing) is next, followed by Gallant (Royalty Stables). Two lengths further back is the trailer, Gorilla Glue (Maxmillion Farm), who is used to coming from well off the pace.
(1/2 Mile- :45.28, Top of Stretch, 2F To Go)- The backstretch trip carries on with Two Million leading the way, but right behind him, we see Wyatt Langmore getting a little antsy. He’s pushed ahead of Delightful Rubicon and Silent Murder at this point, leading to a lot of lateral movement as J Loveberry looks for his plan of attack on the leader. At the top of the stretch, after deciding on the lane to the outside of the frontrunner, Wyatt Langmore would pull even with Two Million. His work was not done, as we see a few horses showing plenty of interest in making late runs. One of them is Timber Snake, who handled the turn well, and is now three wide of Silent Murder and Delightful Rubicon. Figure Of Speech was looking interesting, and Fox Final Time looked like he might have something for the finish. Mellow Magic moved to the rail for his, and surely Gorilla Glue would get rolling soon.
(Finish- 1:21.37)- Wyatt Langmore looked good early in the stretch, having plenty of run, which he absolutely would need. Being able to still be a length ahead of Timber Snake, and any other challenger with a furlong to go was key to his holding on for the win. The progress of the others on him was slight at best, as Wyatt Langmore scores a sharp looking win. Timber Snake is second in a photo with the hard charging Gorilla Glue, and Silent Murder will be in the background of that photo as well for the fourth-place check. Fox Final Time takes fifth, ahead of Mellow Magic. The favorite, Figure Of Speech never got going in the stretch, beating only Delightful Rubicon, a fatigued Two Million, and Gallant.
About The Winner- Wyatt Langmore, trained by Fractious and ridden to victory by J Loveberry, is a three-year-old gelding by Count The Stars and is out of General Flecha. He was bred by Chili King Stables in California as a second quarter two-year-old, and was acquired by Fractious with a $25.000 claim in late February. The win is his fourth in 11 starts, and his second stake win. His career earnings are now $341.140.
Track: Fast
Time: :22 :451 1:091 1:211
$2 Mutuel Prices:
$1 Exacta: 4 – 10 Paid 63.90
$1 Trifecta: 4 – 10 – 9 Paid 1,389.70
Scratched: None
— NS
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded
