Gantry and Cash Refund go at it again in the Thanksgiving Handicap
Black Swan Stable’s Gantry will have a perfect opportunity to win the Thanksgiving Handicap twice in two consecutive years. The six furlong race is the traditional matchup of sprinters at Fair Grounds, and this year, last year’s runner-up by a nose Cash
Refund’s inclusion makes the event all the more exciting.
The re-match will be an intriguing one, because the pair squared off three times during the 2011-2012 Fair Grounds meet, and the 2011 edition of the Thanksgiving Handicap set the tone of a barn-burning rivalry. In 2011, Gantry on the outside edged Cash Refund
by a nose to win the Thanksgiving Handicap.
They went at each other once more this year in the F. W. Gaudin Memorial Stakes, and over the same distance and venue, they almost repeated the same result to that of the Thanksgiving Handicap, as by the same margin Gantry edged Cash Refund to snatch another
one from Steve Margolis trained 6-year-old horse.
Ron Faucheux trained Gantry, after winning the F. W. Gaudin Memorial Stakes, made it 3 in 3, while Cash Refund’s form took a nose dive after what could’ve been two victories in the bag at Fair Grounds.
The 5-year-old gelded son of Pulpit, Gantry, then went on to finish third behind Amazombie and Shackleford in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes over seven furlongs.
However, at Calder race course this July, Gantry bounced back from his Churchill Downs Stakes defeat to win the Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap over the familiar distance of 6 furlongs.
He went on to defeat Indiano in second, and Close It Out in third with the winning time of 1 minute and 10.52 seconds under jockey Richard Eramia.
Gantry met his match in the Temperence Hill Stakes, when Tom Amoss trained, Delauney, edged past Gantry to show him what it feels like to lose after being so close to winning.
Thanksgiving Handicap has added fire power this year by reeling in Delauney to its seven horse-field. And with Cash Refund out for revenge, Delauney will be keen to keep his supremacy over Gantry, and Gantry looking to down both, it is going to be one cracker
of an opening day race at Fair Grounds 22 November, 2012.
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