The most flaunted meeting that was going to take place at Churchill Downs this Thanksgiving weekend kicked off on Friday, the 26th of November. The event was indeed very entertaining and all those who witnessed it were
delighted, though Giant Oak’s trainer Chris Block seemed a trifle annoyed at the end of the race.
This racing season, Chris Block has not been very pleased with Giant Oak’s starts, since the colt did not even break through once. Yet again, Giant Oak finished the Clark Handicap in 2nd place behind Successful Dan. The $500,000
meet was lost by Giant Oak by just a head, only to be elevated to the first position after Successful Dan’s victory was objected on the grounds of interfering with Redding Colliery. Redding Colliery was the 3rd place finisher at the top of the stretch
in the beginning of the race. However, the stewards took about 15 minutes to finally announce that Giant Oak and his trainer were the deserving winners of the event.
Block is a hard working trainer and wanted to win the race when the chaos that broke out, however he did not really mind this victory after a series of marginal losses this past racing season. In a post race interview, he was reported
as saying, “This guy, we have worked so hard getting him where he is at today; this has to rank right up there.”
Successful Dan was sent out as a 9-5 favourite and claimed his third successive victory after he held off Giant Oak. Nevertheless, after the field of 11 contenders were returning home, Redding Colliery’s connections raised the
objection sign after which Successful Dan was demoted to 3rd position.
When Redding’s jockey, Rosie Napravnik was approached for her views about the event, she blamed Successful Dan’s behaviour for his disqualification. Talking to the correspondents, she said, “He slammed me pretty hard. He knocked
us completely off stride.”
On the other hand, Successful Dan’s trainer Lopresti explained that his trainee was not at fault as he was forced into Redding Colliery’s path by Demarcation’s abrupt move towards the inside of the track. He also said that the
jockey, Julien Leparoux and his horse were bewildered by this Demarcation’s swift action.
Lopresti said, “It was a terrible call. Up there in the stretch that horse (Demarcation) came over on us and knocked us into the other horse and after that we’re clearly the winner.”
These allegations were ruled by the Kentucky Chief Steward John Veitch as he claimed that Demarcation was not observed to be interfering with Successful Dan’s path throughout the race. Talking to the correspondents in reaction
to what Charlie Lopresti claimed, Veitch said, “We couldn’t see any evidence of that.” However, Demarcation was demoted from the 4th spot to last after he bumped into Dubious Miss.
Churchill Downs resounded with cheers when Giant Oak was announced the winner of the race, as his No. 4 moved from 2nd place to 1st on the score board. The four year old clinched the long-awaited victory in
the 1 1/8 mile graded stakes race in a time of 1 minute and 50.82 seconds.
Even though Giant Oak came close to winning a graded start numerous times, he was not able to break through in any graded race. He was the 4th place finisher in Clarks Handicap of the last racing season and runner up
to the winner in the Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap that took place in October. This 2nd place finish encouraged Block to send his horse to contend in the Breeders’ Cup Marathon, in which he only managed to land in 5th place.
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