Horse Racing News: 2009 Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont Stakes News, Daily Horse Racing Winners, Results & Payouts

Four horses vied for the lead coming down the backside in fractions of :21.03 for the opening quarter and :43.40 for the half, but Fast Parade emerged with the lead from between horses entering the turn.

Gaining the rail with 2-to-5 favorite Da Stoops making a five-wide bid, Fast Parade also had to hold off a strong charge from The Pharaoh. Da Stoops shortened stride as the three battled down the stretch while Fast Parade gutted out a duel with The Pharaoh, pulling away to win in 1:15.11 over fast main labeled track.

"This was the first time he was running against these kind of horses, and he had been off for a while," said jockey Garrett Gomez, noting that Fast Parade had been running at smaller tracks like Emerald Downs and at the California Fairs before taking a five-month break. "With the combination of the two, I really didn’t know what to expect. …He acted like he was getting a little tired at the top of the lane, but he switched leads and found another gear."

It was the first stakes win at Santa Anita for trainer Peter Miller, who has been training for more than 20 years—switching to breaking babies and prepping young horses in the mid-1990s after starting at the racetrack. Formerly with Golden Eagle Farm, he moved to San Luis Rey Training Center to prep horses for a variety of owners. He began to run more horses during the last year.

"I’ve had [Fast Parade] for two months," Miller said. "I knew he was a runner. I don’t care who he’s by or who he beat, he’s a real runner."

By Delineator, a son of Storm Cat, Fast Parade was bred in Washington by Dr. Michael John Konecny. He is out of the winning Prospectors Gamble mare Parade of Gold.