Chepstow Fights for Claiming Crown Iron Horse Victory
Displaying the courage to match his speed, GLAB Racing Stable’s Chepstow grudgingly yielded the lead to favored Goodtimehadbyall in deep stretch but re-rallied along the inside for a gutsy half-length victory in the $110,000 Claiming Crown Iron Horse Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
The 1 1/16-mile Iron Horse for 3-year-olds and up that have started for a claiming price of $8,000 or less lifetime was one of nine stakes on the $1.1 million Claiming Crown Day program, highlighted by the $200,000 Jewel.
Created in 1999 to honor the blue-collar horses that are the foundation of the racing industry nationwide, the 18th Claiming Crown was hosted by Gulfstream for the fifth straight year and served as a fitting kick off to its 2016-17 Championship Meet.
It was the second straight win for Chepstow ($8.80), a gelded 6-year-old son of Harlington trained by Ralph Ziadie and coming off a front-running half-length allowance victory Nov. 6 at Gulfstream Park West that served as a prep for the Iron Horse.
“I hoped he would be on the lead. When he was being pressed, I thought he was going to be beat,” Ziadie said. “I was worried my horse was going to be tired when he straightened up for home, but he had a big heart and he ran super.”
Chepstow broke sharp from his rail post under jockey Edgard Zayas, aboard for each of his previous four wins dating back to last fall, and went straight to the front, running the opening quarter-mile in 23.73 seconds and the half in 47.17.
Goodtimehadbyall, a 13-time winner of nearly $600,000 making his 78th career start, navigated his way from outermost Post 14 to a stalking spot with jockey Jose Ortiz, stuck to Chepstow’s right flank through six furlongs in 1:11.55.
“My horse, he loves to fight,” Zayas said. “Whenever he gets the lead, he’s just a different horse. You have to ride him and ride him. He looks like he’s always beat but he always keeps trying. Whenever they get close to him, he’s a grinder. He just keeps going.”
Goodtimehadbyall engaged Chepstow as the two straightened for home and briefly stuck his nose in front at the eighth pole before a stubborn Chepstow dug in again when Zayas switched the whip to his left hand and surged to hit the wire in1:43.90 over a fast main track.
“The other horse was trying to get away from me because he knew that whenever he got close, my horse wasn’t going to quit,” Zayas said. “He tried to get his horse away from me and when I went to the left hand to get close to him again, he got himself back in front.”
Ten Strike Racing’s Goodtimehadbyall was a clear second, 1 ¼ lengths ahead of 45-1 long shot Chisled. It was another three-quarters of a length back to Cause I’m Alex in fourth.
Tactical Change Pays Off for Defer Heaven in $110,000 Express: Given a perfect trip from regular rider Emisael Jaramillo that included a last-minute change of tactics, Monster Racing Stables’ Defer Heaven came from off the pace to notch his 19th career victory in the $110,000 Claiming Crown Express.
Favored at 2-1 in a field of 13 3-year-olds and up that have started for a claiming price of $8,000 or less lifetime, Defer Heaven ($6.80) settled in third as Great Lou and Blings Express battled through blazing early fractions of 22.17 seconds for the quarter-mile and 44.82 for the half.
Jaramillo ranged up on the leaders at the top of the stretch and swept past on the outside, pulling clear in the stretch to win by 1 ¾ lengths in 1:09.77 for six furlongs. Proper Freud came running late for second, a neck ahead of Express Jet in third.
“I tried to make the lead, but when I saw those other two horses hook up I decided to just lay right behind them and try to come get them at the head of lane.,” Jaramillo said. “He ran a great race.”
It was the eighth win from 10 starts this year for Defer Heaven, and sixth in seven lifetime tries at Gulfstream Park, where Jaramillo rode him to four victories during last winter’s Championship Meet including an 8 ¼-length romp in the Feb. 15.
“He knows him better than me, and he made the right move,” winning trainer Jorge Navarro said. “I told him, ‘Send, send, send.’ I guess he couldn’t make the lead. He did make the right choice. Also, the horse loves this track. This is a cool horse all around ; he’s got 19 wins now.”
Source: Gulfstream Park