Camp Hope Thrives Over Boggy Going in Bryan Station
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Photo: Keeneland/Coady Photography
Camp Hope coasts to the wire in the Bryan Station Stakes at Keeneland
The steady falling of rain over the past few days had left the Keeneland turf course akin to a swampy European bog when the field paraded onto the grass for the start of the Oct. 30 Bryan Station Stakes. Every other race scheduled for the turf on the afternoon had been taken off in order to preserve the grass for the $150,000 one-mile event for 3-year-olds. While post-time favorite Camp Hope had never raced over the yielding turf before, the Kenny McPeek-trained 3-year-old son of Summer Front took to the heavy going with ease, bounding home a 2 3/4-length winner on the last day of the Keeneland fall meet.
A $200,000 Fasig-Tipton July Sale yearling purchase by McPeek for Walking L Thoroughbreds, Camp Hope graduated first time out on the Churchill Downs main track last October before turning in a series of lackluster efforts into his 3-year-old campaign. Shipped up to Saratoga Race Course for the summer, her trainer took a shot on the grass with the bay and his formed showed an instant turnaround. After two third allowance level showings at Saratoga and Kentucky Downs, Camp Hope delivered a breakthrough performance when claiming a Keeneland allowance contest by 5 1/2 lengths, earning a 103 Equibase Speed Figure.
Camp Hope, trying stakes company for the first time since a 12th place effort in last fall's TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance(G1), perched just off of Dreamer's Disease through early splits of :24.62 and :49.04 under jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. Rounding the bend, the bay then put away his rival and seized command after six furlongs in 1:14.02, spurting clear of the field with a quarter-mile left to run. Graded stakes winner Like the King , shuffled back early, closed five wide, and made a gallant bid down the lane but couldn't faze the home free Camp Hope at the wire.
“He won on the turf course similar to this early in the meet, opening day; it was pretty soft," said Hernandez. "My biggest concern was just being from the 11 hole, getting him out of there and getting him in good position under the wire the first time. Knowing the horse, he’s good enough—as long as he got his position early, we thought he was the best horse in the race and he was able to prove it today.”
Like the King ran second, two lengths in front of third-place Yes This Time .
Video: Bryan Station S. (BT)
“I’m questioning why I hadn’t run him on the grass sooner," said McPeek. "This horse has really come into form this fall, and I think turf’s definitely all the difference.”
Camp Hope ran the mile in 1:38.32 on the turf rated "soft" and returned $7.00 for a $2 win ticket.
He improved his record to 3-0-2 from nine starts for earnings of $225,557. Camp Hope, bred in Kentucky by Bret Jones of Airdrie Stud, is the first stakes winner produced from the Pulpit mare Praising . She has foaled a filly by Cairo Prince this year.
Nakatomi gets up to win the Bowman Mill Stakes
Over a sloppy, heavy Keeneland main track reminiscent of the one Nakatomi faced when splashing to his 2 1/4 length debut win six months ago, the Wesley Ward trainee again showed his penchant for the muddy surface with a game victory in the $150,000 Bowman Mill Stakes one race before the Bryan Station.
Marc Demtampel, Qatar Racing, and Bottle Rocket Stables' Nakatomi had been winless since his Keeneland unveiling, making an unsuccessful Royal Ascot bid in the June 17 Norfolk Stakes (G2) before finishing a distant third in the Aug. 14 Saratoga Special Stakes Presented by Miller Lite (G2). Facing allowance company Oct. 1 at Churchill Downs, the Firing Line gelding was away slow from the barrier before closing late into fast fractions, falling three-quarters of a length short of catching the opposing Chattalot .
In an evenly matched field of juveniles, Robert and Lawana Low's My Prankster , an impressive first-out winner at Saratoga Aug. 21, went off as the narrow 2-1 favorite.
When the gates opened, Nakatomi broke sixth of seven as Hernandez rushed Chattlot to the lead, who was quickly prompted by My Prankster just to his outside past a tepid first quarter in :21.92. Tracking behind the leaders, Tyler Gafalione shook the reins on the gelding around the turn after a :45.29 half-mile, and Nakatomi charged three-wide entering the stretch, baring down on a loose My Prankster. Under steady encouragement from Gafalione, Nakatomi roared past My Prankster in the final strides for a 3/4 length tally. Eight lengths behind the top two, Chattalot held third.
Nakatomi stopped the timer in a solid 1:10.33 for six furlongs over a track that had been playing slow times throughout the day.
“It was kind of the surprise of the spring that (over a sloppy track at Keeneland in his first race) he beat (stakes winner) Happy Soul , that filly that went on to do so well after that, so I knew he would really like this track," said Ward. "This is his home track. All my horses, when we run here at Keeneland—because we train here year-round—they kind of take it up a notch or two, which he did today."
Increasing his career earnings to $175,400, Nakatomi paid $6.20 for the win. Bred by Arnold Zetcher and Crestwood Farm, he is the first stakes winner out of the Flatter mare Applelicious .