Ky. Downs: 20-1 shot Kitodan earns connections 1st graded win

Franklin, Ky.

A hoarse Eric Foster stood outside the winner’s circle Monday at Kentucky Downs next to owner Doug Miller. The trainer tried to gather his thoughts and find the words to describe his first graded-stakes win.

“I just knew we had him ready,” Foster said of Kitodan, who pulled a 20-1 upset in the Grade 3, $750,000 Dueling Grounds Derby. “Doug always tells me, he says, ‘I just want to be prepared for when everything goes right,’ I always repeat it back to him and…”

“Everything went right today,” Miller laughed as he patted Foster on the shoulder.

Kitodan drew away from the Todd Pletcher-trained Grand Sonata on Monday by four lengths to win the Dueling Grounds Derby for 3-year-olds. The Point of Entry colt covered 1 5/16 miles in 2:15.41, returning $43.48.

“I don’t know if I can outrun Todd in a footrace,” Foster said of the Hall of Fame trainer. “But I know my horse outran his horse today.”

The Dueling Grounds Derby highlighted a Kentucky Downs card scheduled for Sunday before weather forced a postponement to Labor Day.

Like Foster, Corrales also notched his first victory in a graded stakes thanks to Kitodan. He primarily raced in Ohio before devoting most of his time toward the Kentucky circuit since 2020 and has registered 706 wins in his career.

“Certainly,” Corrales answered when asked if the upset aboard Kitodan was the biggest of those wins.

Kitodan broke from post No. 4 in a field of 12 sophomores. Corrales settled his mount in ninth through the early stages of the race as leader Double Clutch posted crawling fractions of 25.63 seconds, 52.29 seconds and 1:17.62.

The winner picked up steam around the far turn, took over midway through the stretch and proved much the best. Grand Sonata, a Grade 3 victor, chased home Kitodan while finishing 3 1/2 lengths clear of Mount Rundle in third.

Ready to Purrform went off the 3-2 favorite for trainer Brad Cox and stalked the early pace but faded to sixth.

Foster’s wife, Brooklyn, campaigns Kitodan under the Foster Family Racing banner alongside Miller and Bill Wargel. The Fosters hail from western Kentucky and have scored wins this year at Churchill Downs, Ellis Park, Horseshoe Indianapolis and Turfway Park, mostly at the claiming level.

The group claimed Kitodan for $80,000 off a third-place finish in a May allowance race at Churchill Downs. The colt was formerly trained by Mike Maker, for whom he won the Rushaway Stakes in April at Turfway.

In his first start for Foster, Kitodan upset Churchill’s Audubon Stakes at 40-1 odds in June. That win came at 1 1/8 miles over the lawn.

“This is the second time we’ve got to run him on the turf against 3-year-olds,” Foster said. “He’s getting stronger. Bill ran into Maker at the stakes room at Churchill and he told him the distance was going to be on our side. That was before we ran in the Audubon. He’s just proving he wants to go longer.”

Kitodan was fourth at Churchill in the off-the-turf American Derby in July, then fifth last month at Ellis Park in the Evan Williams Turf Mile Stakes when facing older horses.

Bettors dismissed Kitodan on Monday off those two off-the-board finishes, with his 20-1 odds at post time double his price of 10-1 on the morning line. But the colt closed full of run to score his connections the win of a lifetime.

“I just can’t hardly talk,” Foster said. “I’ve never lost my voice like this, so apparently I was pretty excited.”

Rosario boots home Vergara to narrow Dueling Grounds Oaks score

One year ago, Joel Rosario shattered the Kentucky Downs single-meet wins record by booting home 17 winners. He missed the first two days of the 2022 meet but made up for lost time Monday with a gutty stakes score.

Vergara held firm under rider Rosario to turn back Skims by a head in the $500,000 Dueling Grounds Oaks for 3-year-old fillies. The Noble Mission filly covered 1 5/16 miles in 2:14.95, returning $10.96 at 4-1 odds.

Trained by Graham Motion, Vergara entered off a second-place effort Aug. 6 at Woodbine in the Ontario Colleen Stakes (G3). She scored the second stakes win of her career, having also taken the Tepin Stakes last November at Aqueduct.

Monday in Franklin, Vergara attended to the early pace as Turnerloose went through fractions of 25.40 and 50.67 seconds. Rosario’s mount moved ahead entering the far turn but was confronted by Skims, setting up a duel to the wire.

Vergara dug in along the rail with the Shug McGaughey-trained Skims to her outside and got the best of her. Behind the top two were California Angel in third and 6-5 favorite New Year’s Eve rounding out the superfecta.

“It was great to have Joel ride her,” Motion told Kentucky Downs’ publicity team by phone. “He gave her a super ride. I was concerned if she wanted to go that far, but clearly, she handled the distance, no trouble. I’m tickled to win a race like that. It’s been a while since I’ve done that out there at Kentucky Downs.”

Rosario, Tyler Gaffalione and Florent Geroux all had mounts scheduled Sunday at Kentucky Downs and Monday on Saratoga’s closing day card. Weather caused Kentucky Downs to push its Sunday card to Labor Day, requiring those three jockeys to choose between the two circuits.

Gaffalione and Rosario left the Spa for the European-style course by the Kentucky-Tennessee border, while Geroux stayed in New York. Rosario was aboard Vergara for the first time.

“That was a special year for me and everybody else, my agent, everyone involved,” Rosario said of his record-setting 2021 Kentucky Downs meet. “Those were unforgettable moments and we’re looking forward to more of them."