Race Day Holds Off Midnight Hawk in Razorback
The Grade 3, $250,000 Razorback Handicap boiled down to a two horse race as Matthew Schera’s Race Day gamely held off Hill n Dale Equine Holdings Inc.’s Midnight Hawk by a neck to score his first stakes win in the Oaklawn slop on Saturday.
Turning for home, the duo traded head bobs through a mile in 1:38.20. Race Day gained a slight advantage with an eighth of a mile to go and, after a brief idle, resumed the charge against his rival. The pair pulled away from the rest of the field as Race Day got a neck in front under the wire.
Golden Ticket, as much as a dozen lengths behind the leaders on the backside, wheeled three wide with a strong rally to edge Carve for third, finishing seven lengths behind the winner.
The final time for 1 1/16 miles over the sealed track rated “good” was 1:44.88.
As the slight favorite over Tapiture at 2-1, Race Day paid $6.20, $4.80 and $3.60 for the win. Midnight Hawk, sent off at 7-1, returned $6.80 and $4.40. Golden Ticket paid $5.60 to show while Carve, Tapiture and Ride On Curlin rounded out the order of finish. I Got It All was scratched.
After moving from Kellyn Gorder’s barn late last year, Race Day romped in a Gulfstream optional claimer in December and quickly moved into stakes company, posting a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Fred Hooper at Gulfstream on Feb. 7.
“There was a lot of pace in his last race at Gulfstream and he didn’t get a good break,” Velazquez said after the race. “Today, he broke well. I loved the way he was running into the first turn. When he came down the lane, he put up a good fight.”
Meanwhile, Midnight Hawk’s connections were not too disappointed with their colt’s effort.
“He ran huge, and he ran straight, which makes us really happy because in a lot of his past races he's been very erratic,” said Baffert’s assistant Jim Barnes. “We could not be happier with him and how well he did today.”
“He ran well,” Espinoza said. “I was so close. I thought I had it there for a minute. I started riding him a little early, but he was fighting. He was fighting the whole way.”