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.Kentucky Derby Prep Race Results: Hold Me Back Wins Lane’s End Stakes at Turfway Park March 21
Posted on Saturday, March 21st, 2009
Unraced since November, Hold Me Back made his 3-year-old debut a memorable and lucrative one, closing from next to last under jockey Kent Desormeaux to win the $500,000 Lane’s End Stakes (G2) by 1 3/4 lengths at Turfway Park in convincing fashion over the D. Wayne Lukas-trained long shot Flying Private.
The Lane’s End Stakes is one of the Kentucky Derby prep races at Turfway Park on Saturday, March 21.
Long shot Orthodox set the early pace, laying down early fractions of :23.71 for the quarter, :47.84 for the half, 1:12.43 for three quarters. Turning for home, Orthodox was quickly passed by Proceed Bee, Flying Private and Parade Clown. But none of those three could hold off the oncoming rush of Hold Me Back.
After a slow start that landed him in 11th position early, Hold Me Back commenced a sustained rally approaching the far turn and swung six wide straightening out for the stretch. He caught Flying Private at the sixteenth pole and drew clear at the finish. Proceed Bee was four lengths farther back in third. Final time for the 9-furlong Lane’s End Stakes was 1:49.63.
“I thought I was hopelessly beaten the second the doors opened,” said jockey Kent Desormeaux. “He just stood there, and it worked out really well in the end because closers perform so much better on it [Polytrack].”
After the slow start, however, jockey Kent Desormeaux knew he had a lot of horse under him. “He carried me around the racetrack in great fashion, strong, in the bridle, continued to move forward, and I allowed him to do that passing the half-mile pole and just collected the frontrunners continually until we made the lead,” Desormeaux said.
Trained by Bill Mott, Hold Me Back gained his third win from 4 career outings. Each of those 3 wins came over all-weather surfaces, with the lone blemish on his record coming in his only dirt start in the Remsen Stakes last time out in November at Aqueduct. The Giant’s Causeway colt finished fifth that day behind Old Fashioned.
Hold Me Back earned $282,000 for his owners, WinStar Farm. Those graded earnings should be sufficient to lock up a starting position in the Kentucky Derby field. Prior to today, Hold Me Back had just $6,000 in graded earnings from his fifth-place finish in the Remsen.
“The Derby is definitely our plan, but we’ll let the horse and Bill [Mott] tell us if that is the right place, said WinStar Vice President Elliott Walden. “Our goal is the Derby every year.”
Walden is not sure whether Hold Me Back will go straight to the 2009 Kentucky Derby or start once before then.
“We’ll let Bill make the call, but I would think we’d probably go straight into the Derby,” Walden said. “But the Blue Grass is also a nice race to win.”
There were no excuses from the Flying Private camp. “I got a perfect trip,” said jockey Israel Ocampo. “I settled down exactly where I wanted to be down the backside. For a second I thought I was going to get the job done, but that other horse came flying.”
West Side Bernie and Bittel Road were each sent off at 2-1, but West Side Bernie was the slight betting favorite. Neither made an impact, with West Side Bernie finishing sixth and Bittel Road 10th.
“I’m going to watch the replay,” said a disappointed Kelly Breen, trainer of West Side Bernie. “It seemed like–we tried to push him a little bit early [because of the way speed was playing] and the jockey [Edgar Prado] said he sort of resented it. We’ll put our heads together and see what we’re going to do.”
Sent off as the 9-1 fourth betting choice, Hold Me Back returned $20.20, $9.40, and $7.40.
The order of finish in the Lane’s End: Hold Me Back, Flying Private, Proceed Bee, Parade Clown, Jack Spratt, West Side Bernie, Bruce N Autumn, A. P. Cardinal, Loch Dubh, Bittel Road, Orthodox and Dynamite Bob.
Horse racing news edited from www.turfway.com.
Tags: A. P. Cardinal, Bittel Road, Bruce N Autumn, Dynamite Bob, Flying Private, Hold Me Back, Jack Spratt, Loch Dubh, Orthodox, Parade Clown, Proceed Bee, West Side Bernie
"Kentucky Derby Prep Race Results: Hold Me Back Wins Lane’s End Stakes at Turfway Park March 21" was posted on Saturday, March 21st, 2009 at 10:33 pm and is filed under Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Race Tracks News, Results & Payouts, Stakes Races, Triple Crown, Turfway Park, 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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