Perfect Officer Catches Great Mills in Shakertown

In Keeneland's Grade 3 Shakertown, Perfect Officer, owned by the David A. Ross Racing Stable LLC, rallied along the inside under Javier Castellano to catch the pace-setting Great Mills at the wire.

Great Mills, ridden by Julien Leparoux, burst out of a tight pack to lead the field of 10 through early fractions of :21.76 and :44.26 and took a daylight lead into the stretch and looked to be home free. It was three lengths back to third-place finisher Zeb, ridden by Edgar Prado.

The final clocking of 1:01.53 erased the stakes record of 1:01.78 set by Soaring Free in 2004 and the course record of 1:01.67 established in 2006 by Sgt. Bert.

Perfect Officer is a 6-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Officer out of the Perfect Vision mare Perfect Tradition. The victory was worth $60,000 and increased Perfect Officer’s bankroll to $515,531 with a record of 28-8-3-5.

Perfect Officer returned $8.60, $4.60 and $3.60. Great Mills returned $9 and $6 with Zeb returning $8.80 to show. It was a half-length back to favored Havelock in fourth, followed in order by Surfrider (IRE), Great Attack, Chamberlain Bridge, Unsaddled Glory, Byesville and Concorde’s Flight.