Sanagas Sets Course Record in Sycamore
Winning his second stakes in his fourth start since arriving in North America, Andreas Jacobs’ Sanagas (GER) took the lead down the stretch and won the 17th running of the $100,00 Sycamore on Thursday in track-record time before a Keeneland crowd of 6,943.
The
Sycamore, a Grade 3 race, was to be run at 1½ miles on the turf course
but because of persistent rain was moved to the main track and held at 1
5/8 miles.
Ridden by Rajiv Maragh for trainer Graham Motion, Sanagas was the 9-5 second choice in the Sycamore field of six 3-year-olds and older horses. He raced in fourth place while Bim Bam led the field through fractions of :25.05, :49.25 and 1:39.23.
Sanagas was one of three horses on Thursday to break track records. In the fifth race, Hammers Terror lowered the mark for the Beard Course distance of seven furlongs and 184 feet when he won in :1:24.31. The winner of the ninth race, Baby Afleet, lowered the 1 1/16-mile mark to 1:41.61
A total of five track records have fallen during the first 10 days of Keeneland’s 17-day Fall Meeting. On October 14, Applauding lowered the six-furlong mark to 1:07.76. On Wednesday, the 3-year-old Newsdad won at 1¼ miles in 2:00.61.