Awesome Slew flies past A. P. Indian in the Commonwealth
Saturday's $250,000 Commonwealth Stakes was billed as a rematch of A.P. Indian and Limousine Liberal off their fantastic stretch battle in last fall's Phoenix Stakes, but the talented newcomer to the Keeneland sprint scene, Awesome Slew had other ideas. Rolling down the middle of the Keeneland stretch, the Live Oak Plantation runner swept past on his way to an impressive 1 1/2-length victory.
Sent off as the 3-1 second choice in the stacked field of nine, Awesome Slew was more than content to relax early under the patient handling of rider, Joel Rosario. While Limousine Liberal carved out early fractions of :22.97 and :46.21 on the front end, the Mark Casse-trained Awesome Slew only had one horse beat, and was well removed from the leading fray.
As the race favorite, A.P. Indian made his move on the far turn, Awesome Slew began to commence his rally. Still eighth early in the lane, Rosario and his mount turned on the afterburners. Meanwhile, A.P. Indian, the winner of five consecutive stakes races last year, looked to be on his way to victory. That thought did not last for long, as Awesome Slew was now in full flight on the outside. He quickly collared the leader, and rolled right on by for the win.
"Very good trip," remarked Rosario. "I knew they were going to get away from me a little bit. I rode this horse last time a little bit off the pace, and he just took his time. He had a tremendous finish today. Turning for home, he was really rolling. I was really happy when he started moving up and kept going.”
The final time for the seven furlongs over the fast main track was a solid 1:22.31. Limousine Liberal, could not stick with the top two down the lane, but held on for a clear third-place finish over the defending race champion, Ami's Flatter.
With the victory, Awesome Slew raised his lifetime record to 11-4-1-3, with earnings of $540,420. This was the second graded stakes win for the Florida homebred. The four-year-old son of Awesome Again had previously accounted for the Grade 3 Smarty Jones by seven lengths last September at Parx.
As the second choice in the strong field, Awesome Slew returned $8.20, $4.00, and $2.80 across the board. The exacta over A.P. Indian was good for $26.20, and the 9-8-3 trifecta, completed by Limousine Liberal, paid $130.20.
This was the second start for Awesome Slew since joining the Casse barn. Previously, he was trained by Eddie Plesa, Jr. Casse talked about his main goal in the coming months, after the race.
"I want to say thanks to (owner) Charlotte (Weber) for giving us this opportunity," said the winning trainer. "(Awesome Slew) trained really good. We went back and looked and thought maybe, he was making a big move in the middle and then flattening out, so we looked at cutting him back. Our goal is the Met Mile (Metropolitan Handicap-G1 on June 10). I said to Mrs. Weber, ‘We can either go from here to the Alysheba-G2 (1 1/16 miles on May 5 at Churchill Downs) if this is too short or go to the Churchill Downs-G2 (on May 6 at 7 furlongs).”