Imagining Breaks Through for Pan Am Victory
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Phipps Stable's homebred Imagining finally returned to the winner's circle, proving best in the $150,000 Pan American Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Gulfstream Park on March 28 .
Sent off the 5-2 second-choice in the field of nine, Imagining took over in the stretch from a game Twilight Eclipse, snapping a five-race losing streak dating back to a victory in the 2014 Man o' War Stakes (gr. IT) at Belmont Park on May 11.
Change of Command set the early pace in the 1 1/2-mile grass marathon, with the even-money favorite Twilight Eclipse pressing the pace through a half in :49.71.
The two remained together through a mile in 1:38.80 before jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. made a move with Imagining entering the far turn to vie for the lead. Change of Command had nothing left but Imagining, the 5-2 second-choice, battled with Twilight Eclipse through the final turn before taking over at the top of the stretch, edging away through the lane to prevail by three-quarters of a length.
"It was a good trip," Ortiz offered. "I was on the inside, saving ground, and on the backside, I brought him outside and he just dragged me. He finished good, he was ready."
Pyrite Mountain, the fourth choice in the wagering at odds of 12-1, closed well late and caught Twilight Eclipse on the wire to get up for second by a head.
It was the ninth win from 22 career starts for Imagining, a 7-year-old son of Giant's Causeway who was bred in Kentucky out of the A.P. Indy mare Daydreaming, Imagining now has earned $1,095,394 in his career; the Pan Am victory was his third graded stakes win to go along with the 2014 Man o' War and the 2013 Red Smith Handicap (gr. IIIT) at Aqueduct Racetrack.
"I'm very pleased," trainer Shug McGaughey said. "It had been a little while since he'd won. I could maybe attribute a little bit of that to the Sword Dancer (gr. IT) last summer, when he ran against Main Sequence. I think he left it all out there that day.
"I liked the way he got on his toes in the paddock today, and I thought Irad rode a terrific race on him. I thought maybe if he broke good, he might be stalking the horse that was on the lead, but Twilight Eclipse and some of them wanted to go to, so Irad just kind of got him and left him down in there, and he got relaxed with him, and then he swung him to the outside, and it was a great race from the three-eighths-pole to the wire. It was two very, very good horses running together, so I was very pleased."
Imagining returned $7.40, $4, and $2.60, while Pyrite Mountain returned $8.60 and $3.40. Twilight Eclipse, the 2013 Pan American winner, returned $2.20. Artic North got up to be fourth and was followed out by Money Talker, Street Chief, Desvelo, Change of Command, and Glenard, who stopped badly as the 3-1 third-choice in the wagering.
"This was just sort of the next logical spot for him (after running in seven straight grade I races)," McGaughey added. "We're just tickled to death with his efforts. Sometimes, when they get to be 7 years old, you get to wondering, 'Are they still there?' But he showed me today that he still was.
"As a trainer, you always wonder, and I was wondering today, 'Well, does he really want to run 1 1/2 miles? Maybe I have to back him up a little bit.' But he still does. We'll keep him in the longer races and just try to have some fun with him this summer."