‘She’s got some turn of foot.’ Mare wins photo-finish thriller at Keeneland.
The second weekend of stakes racing at Keeneland’s 2020 Fall Meet kicked off with a dramatic battle on Friday when Got Stormy charged to a thrilling victory in the $150,000, Grade 3 Buffalo Trace Franklin County Stakes, edging Into Mystic by a nose at the wire.
Ridden by Tyler Gaffalione and breaking as the 4-5 favorite, Got Stormy hung toward the back of the 10-horse field through the first half of the race then made a strong outside move in the stretch. The Mark Casse trainee shot to the front and drew even with Into Mystic, the 9-2 second choice, then prevailed in the 5 1/2-furlong sprint in a photo finish.
Got Stormy now has 10 wins in 25 career starts. The 5-year-old mare is approaching $2 million in earnings. Having spent the bulk of her career as a distance runner, Got Stormy’s connections recently made the decision to steer her toward shorter races. She answered the challenge again on Friday, pulling out her second straight win after prevailing in the Ladies Sprint Stakes at Kentucky Downs last month.
“It’s incredible, she’s got some turn of foot,” Gaffalione said on the TVG television broadcast after the race. “Whatever we throw at her she keeps delivering. I just feel so privileged to be able to ride her.”
Two more stakes contests are on tap during Saturday’s 10-race card: The $200,000 Grade 2 Hagyard Fayette Stakes (race No. 8, 4:57 p.m.) and the $500,000, Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (No. 9, 5:30).
Leparoux thrown from mount
Star jockey Julien Leparoux was taken to a Lexington hospital via ambulance after falling from his mount onto the track in Friday’s fourth race.
The 2009 Eclipse Award winner for outstanding jockey was able to walk to the ambulance under his own power after the accident. TVG analyst Gabby Gaudet, who was working on-site at Keeneland, reported that Leparoux was moving all extremities before departing for the hospital.
Leparoux’s mount, 4-year-old colt Nice Work, appeared unharmed.
Voice of the Cats called it
One of the biggest ticket payouts over the first six days of the Fall Meet came during race No. 3 on Friday, when 14-1 shot Substantial earned his second career victory in the $31,000 claiming contest. The win paid $31.20 for a $2 bet.
Tom Leach, the radio voice of the University of Kentucky men’s basketball and football teams who also is a respected horse racing analyst for Keeneland, called the upset.
In Keeneland’s handicappers’ consensus published ahead of Friday’s races, Leach was not just the lone expert to predict Substantial’s victory; of the five featured analysts, he was the only one to place the 3-year-old colt on the board.
Mr Dumas dominates Thursday feature
Mr Dumas charged ahead in the stretch and scored a 2 1/4-length victory in Keeneland’s featured $78,000 allowance race for 3-year-olds and up on Thursday.
Trained by Mike Maker and ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, Mr Dumas covered 1 1/16 miles on the turf course in 1:40.50.
A Keeneland sales graduate who was bred in Kentucky, Mr Dumas is a 4-year-old son of Majesticperfection. With the win, Mr Dumas improved his career record to 5-1-4 in 14 starts with earnings of $358,479. In November 2019, the colt won the Grade 3 Commonwealth Turf at Churchill Downs and this July finished second in the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch at Saratoga.
For Thursday’s victory, Mr Dumas paid $9, $5.20 and $3.20. Mr Dumas gave Maker one of his three wins on the day’s card. He also won the first race with Victory Boulevard (who paid $7.20 for the victory) and the third race with Miss Eau de Vie ($14).
Reliable Favorites
Heading into Friday’s card, favored horses had won nearly a third of the races at Keeneland’s Fall Meet.
Of the 49 races run over the first five days of the meet, favorites won 16. Seven races were won by horses with odds of 10-1 or longer, and two were won by long shots of at least 20-1.
Keeneland 2020 Fall Meet
When: Through Oct. 24 (no spectators allowed)
Race days: Wednesdays through Sundays
First post: 1:05 p.m.
This story was originally published October 9, 2020 at 6:16 PM.
