Awesome surge in the last quarter mile saw Caracortado through in the Daytona Stakes
Trainer Michael Machowsky’s expertise worked wonders in the six and a half furlong long Grade 3, $98,000 Daytona Stakes at Santa Anita Park’s hillside turf course, where the newly turned 5-year-old gelding, Caracortado, showed an amazing turn of foot to prevail by 1 ¼ lengths over Victory Pete, and win the Daytona Stakes.
The Blahut racing owned son of Cat Dreams, out of mare Mons Venus by Maria’s Mon, Caracortado stepped up to race in the original field of seven, which got trimmed down to four before the race, when Calimonco, Al Instante, and Silver Summation reduced the field because of the early scratches.
The winner of the Grade 2 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, Regally Ready, who was also the 7 to 5 favourite, made justice to his starting price when he broke best out of the lot to set the speed, under jockey Corey Nakatani.
Ridden by Joes Rosario, Mr. Guff wasn’t far behind Regally Ready, as both of them smoked the early fractions by covering the opening quarter mile in 21.55 seconds, and half mile in 43.03 seconds.
Behind the two front runners was Victory Pete, who settled back in third, as Caracortado fell five lengths farther behind.
Things looked bleak for Caracortado, when the field turned for home. At that time it seemed as if Caracortado lost interest, because he was 15 lengths behind the leader.
Rafael Bejarano, who had never ridden Caracortado, was merely following Machowsky’s instructions.
"He told me before the race to wait, and as soon as I close the door that I would have a good turn of foot from the horse," Bejarano said.
"He said not to go too early and just wait for one big run. As soon as I closed the door my horse was flying. This is the first horse that I’ve rode that has this kind of finishing speed. He showed me a big kick. It was unbelievable.”
The California bred 5-year-old gelding, Caracortado cut the corner sharply and decided to run down those 15 lengths and the leaders, in the stretch.
It seemed impossible, but Caracortado pulled through as he swept past them all, under a strong hand from Rafael Bejarano, on the far outside.
They surprisingly won with a comfortable margin in the end. Caracortado showed that he is a natural talent, surprising everyone with his immense pace in the last quarter mile.
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