Gone Astray Takes Salvator Mile

In the Salvator Mile, Gone Astray earned a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile with his dramatic victory.

The 4-year-old colt by Dixie Union, trained by Shug McGaughey and ridden by Cornelio Velasquez, raced the one-mile over a fast track in 1:38 and paid $16.20, $6 and $3.80 across the board as the second longest shot on the board in the field of five.

Duke of Mischief held off You and I Forever by a neck to take the place and complete the $70.20 exacta, paying $4.40 to place and $3.60 to show. You and I Forever paid $4.20 to show.

Le Grand Cru (2-1) and Munnings (6-5) finished fourth and fifth.

Gone Astray was content to sit behind a slow pace (:50 for the half and 1:14 for the six furlongs) until he was ready to make his move in the stretch. He came running fastest of all and blew on by his rivals for a daylight score.

“The pace was so slow, but I was never worried,” Velasquez said. “On the far turn, Edgar’s horse (Le Grand Cru) and Garrett’s horse (Munnings) dropped out of it, so I had to swing my horse to the outside. He had so much run I never had a question.”