One Mean Man Grinds Out Win in Keith Gee Memorial

Hillerich Racing LLC and trainer Bernie Flint’s One Mean Man proved yet again that the match between sire Mizzen Mast and dam Abbeyville Miss is a divine one - especially over the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots turf – when taking the $50,000 Keith Gee Memorial in game style. The gray 3-year-old full-brother to graded stakes winner Mizz Money – a stakes winner over the Stall-Wilson turf course last year – and talented multiple allowance winner Mizzen Miss collared TNT Thoroughbreds’ Doug Matthews-trained Cashel Rock at the top of the stretch and then held off Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey’s Mike Maker-trained 4-5 wagering favorite Oscar Nominated in the final yards to win by a neck under Colby Hernandez.

Dismissed at odds of 13-1, One Mean Man justified his connections’ confidence and won for the first time since taking his debut in an Ellis Park turf dash in July. In the interim, he had knocked heads with the likes of well-regarded charges Airoforce, Dolphus, Tom’s Ready and Quijote in a series of allowances and a graded stake – and at various distances on both dirt and turf. On Sunday, the conditions set up for him to be his meanest on the racetrack and the stocky roan asserted himself to the tune of $28.80, $9.80 and $4 to his faithful. Oscar Nominated, under Miguel Mena, returned $2.80 and $2.40, while Cashel Rock, whose jockey Florent Geroux’s claim of foul against Hernandez was disallowed, returned $2.40.

One Mean Man traveled the 7½-furlong distance in 1:34.66 after Cashel Rock set earlier fractions of 26.60, 51.28 and 1:17.02.

“The race set up perfectly,” Hernandez said. “I had a little trouble in the first turn, but he relaxed nicely and the horse kicked on home and ran all the way to the wire. Bernie Flint and his crew did a great job.”

“He’s just three years old and had some trouble as a 2-year-old and he’s still growing,” Flint said. “We had to get his mind right again after a gate incident in New York and that’s not easy to do. Luckily it’s January and not July and he’s coming back around again.

“I think they’re duplicate copies, him and Mizz Money,” Flint continued. “They’re both tough and sound horses. We’ll move forward in the stakes program with him somewhere. I’ll find something. The family’s just riddled with graded stakes winners and hopefully he’ll be one too. We’ve had a lot of money invested in these horses, so it’s nice when you get a stakes win like this.”

“I had a great trip,” Mena said. "They gave me instructions to get in there and cover up and I did, but the pace was very slow. The distance was too short, too. I had every chance, but he just wouldn’t get going until the sixteenth-pole. By the time he got going, the wire was right there. I was on the best horse in the race, but it’s bad luck.”

The order of finish was completed by Mending Fences, Gotsomemojo and Wild Man.

Source: Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots