Horse Racing News is the source of thoroughbred racing information with horse racing odds, betting tips, racing picks, race results, and handicapping. Latest news and articles on top horse racing contenders, jockeys, trainers, three-year-olds, race tracks, and major stakes races such as the Triple Crown races: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes as well as the Breeders' Cup horse races.Breeders’ Cup Challenge Race Results: Coal Play Wins Salvator Mile Handicap at Monmouth Park
Posted on Saturday, July 4th, 2009
In North America’s first 2009 Breeder’s Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge at Monmouth Park, Robert LaPenta’s Coal Play, with jockey Joe Bravo aboard, employed front-running tactics to score by 3 lengths in the $250,000 Salvator Mile Handicap (G3) earning him a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile field.
The Mineshaft colt Coal Play took the track out of the gate and set solid fractions on the lead as jockey Joe Bravo kept his speed under control.
Coal Play galloped along unchallenged on the front end through splits of :23 3/5 for the quarter, :46 3/5 for the half and 1:10 flat for six furlongs, and was never in danger at any point.
Through the stretch, Coal Play widened his lead as Smooth Air, the 7-5 favorite, drifted out, losing any chance of threatening. Solar Flare was third, 3 lengths farther back after chasing the leaders most of the way.
Coal Play hit the wire in 1:34 2/5 for the mile over a fast main track, just 3 ticks off the track record of 1:33 4/5. As fourth choice in the Salvator Mile field of 8 older horses, Coal Play paid $14.40, $5.40 and $4 across the board and topped a $45.80 exacta. Smooth Air paid $2.80 and $2.10 and Solar Flare returned $3.40 to show.
“When this horse gets things his way, he’s real tough,” jockey Bravo said. “They gave me the first quarter (:23 2/5) and after that they tried him several times, but he just kept giving me more. The fractions were pretty honest. He’s a really cool horse to ride and kept digging through the stretch.”
Chad Brown, trainer of Smooth Air, said, “We’re not disappointed with the race. We thought he ran well today. We’ll check him out when we get back to the barn. He was drifting out a little bit in the lane, but he does that sometimes, so I’m not too worried about him.”
This was the third victory in 5 starts at Monmouth for Coal Play, who last year won the Majestic Prince Stakes and an allowance race at Monmouth Park, and finished a strong second to Big Brown in the Haskell.
The Salvator Mile winner’s share of $150,000 raised Coal Play’s earnings to $506,708.
Horse racing news edited from www.monmouthpark.com.
Tags: Coal Play, Keep Laughing, Kiss the Kid, Runforthedoe, Smooth Air, Solar Flare, The Roundhouse, Two Step Salsa
"Breeders’ Cup Challenge Race Results: Coal Play Wins Salvator Mile Handicap at Monmouth Park" was posted on Saturday, July 4th, 2009 at 10:53 pm and is filed under Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Monmouth Park, Race Tracks News, Results & Payouts, Stakes Races, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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