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Vineyard Haven
Photo Credit: Jim McCue/MJC
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LAUREL, MD. 10-24-09---What appeared to be anyone’s race at the top of the stretch turned into a hard fought triumph for Godolphin Racing LLC’s Vineyard Haven when he took the short way home to win the Grade I $300,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park.
Under jockey Alan Garcia, 4-5 favorite Vineyard Haven was expected to show a turn of speed from his inside post position, but he came away from the gate in eighth place and was kept under urging the rest of the way before catching and passing a hard closing Ravalo for the win and Fleet Valid, who yielded late to finish third.
“During the first part of the race I wasn’t sure we were going to be able to get there but when the rail opened my horse just started running for the hole,” said Garcia. “He is a really nice horse. This was a great effort.”
Vineyard Haven covered the six-furlong distance in 1:09.62, won by a half-length and paid $3.60. The exacta returned $16.60 and the triple paid $60.20.
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Photo Credit: Jim McCue/MJC
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The winner, a 3-year-old trained by Saeed bin Suroor, was making only his seventh lifetime start. He won the Grade I Hopeful and the Grade I Champagne during his 2-year-old campaign. The talented son of Lido Palace was disqualified from first and placed second in his last start, the Grade I King’s Bishop Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 29.
“It is very difficult for a 3-year-old to compete against a solid field of older sprinters as he did today,” assistant-trainer Rick Mettee said. “Going three-quarters instead of seven-eighths makes it an entirely different race. These horses run hard every step. Most have a good amount of speed themselves and they don’t stop until the wire. The DeFrancis Dash is one of the harder sprint races to win in this country. There are a lot of very talented horses in the mid-Atlantic at this time. This was as good a race as he has ever run. He had to go out and win this race today. There were good local horses and they were tough to beat. I was very concerned. It was a great performance and Alan gave him a really good ride.”
Laurel Park-based Ravalo had won nine stakes at the distance for trainer Donald Barr, including the Grade III Maryland Sprint Handicap on the Preakness undercard. The son of Mutakddim has now finished in the money in 23 of 28 career races for earnings of $772,285.
“He ran huge,” Barr said. “I had a good trip and was able to rate a bit like I wanted to. That other horse is a better horse than I am right now. There is no embarrassment here.”
“He settled perfectly and finished well. We just got beat,” said Jeremy Rose, who rode the five-year-old gelding. “I got outside where I thought the best part of the track was. I was hoping Alan was in the wrong part of the track but he beat us.”
Fleet Valid was looking for his fifth consecutive victory since being claimed by trainer Scott Volk for $14,000 in April. The son of 1993 De Francis Dash winner Montbrook set a pressured pace and held the advantage to the sixteenth pole and gave way grudgingly to the top pair.
“He ran really hard,” said Pablo Morales, who was aboard Fleet Valid. “He got a little tired at the end. We were pressured the entire way. My horse ran as hard as he could.”
Behind the top three came, in order, Sacred Journey, Ah Day, Peace Chant, Roaring Lion and True Quality. The field dropped to eight with the early scratch of the longshot Saratoga Russell, who showed symptoms of colic according to West Point Thoroughbreds.
The De Francis Dash is one of just three Grade I races contested in Maryland, along with the Preakness Stakes, the middle jewel of racing’s Triple Crown, and the historic Pimlico Special. Introduced in 1990, the De Francis Dash is one of the elite six-furlong sprints in the country with four of the 18 winners-Housebuster (1991), Cherokee Run (1994), Smoke Glacken (1997) and Thor’s Echo (2006)-earning Eclipse Award honors for champion sprinter. The Dash was not carded in 2008 due to a purse account shortfall.
A crowd of 8,607 braved the late afternoon showers.
-MJC-