44-1 long shot gives Always Dreaming 1st win as stallion

The longest shot on the board for a maiden race Sunday at Churchill Downs provided 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming his first victory as a stallion.

Mardukas (44-1), a 2-year-old colt who finished last in his five-furlong debut over the same track June 8, bounced back under a ground-saving trip from jockey Corey Lanerie to win by a neck in the 5 1/2-furlong, $92,000 seventh race.

Bought last fall for $20,000 by Daniel Preiss and Chris Province at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky yearling sale, Mardukas broke from post 1 and stayed within 1 1/2 lengths of the early pace set by eventual sixth-place finisher Missin Curfew (20-1).

Click here for Churchill Downs entries and results.

Even though there was not much of a gap to the inside, Lanerie found enough room along the rail to squeeze through and take the lead at the top of the stretch. Mardukas looked green in the last quarter-mile, but he proved to be game.

Cortese (9-2), a John Ennis-trained Speightster colt who also stalked the pace, made a wide turn into the lane under Carlos Villasana and dueled Mardukas to the finish only to lose by a neck.

Post-time favorite Clear the Deck (6-5), an Army Mule colt trained by Kenny McPeek and ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., made a late charge to finish third, 1 1/4 lengths behind the winner.

Trained by Jeff Engler, Mardukas is out of the now 10-year-old Pulpit mare Blue Kisses and was bred in Kentucky by Hubert Vester.

Now 8, Always Dreaming stands for $12,500 at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky. The winner of two Grade 1 races before his retirement in 2018, he has had seven first-crop progeny build a 9: 1-0-2 record this year in North America with another 2-year-old colt in Japan who has yet to make his debut.