Arrest Me Red Sprints to Victory in the Twin Spires
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Arrest Me Red wins the Twin Spires Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs
The last time out for Lael Stables' Arrest Me Red saw his three-race win streak snapped. So there was no better time to get back on track than with the eyes of the Thoroughbred world focused on Louisville at the $500,000 Twin Spires Turf Sprint Stakes Presented by Sysco (G3T) May 6 at Churchill Downs.
The 7-2 favorite stopped the clock in the 5 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up in 1:04.18, winning by 1 3/4 lengths over 40-1 longshot Bran .
Arrest Me Red jumped out of the gate quickly and was joined in the lead pack of five horses that were within a half-length of each other at the quarter-mile mark.
"He broke really well. You never know how it's going to go on the soft turf when they're up there on the pace," trainer Wesley Ward said. "They were pressuring Irad (Ortiz Jr.) from the outside and he told me he decided to take back a little. He got a little breather. They were a little wide coming around the turn, but when they got to the quarter pole I could see he still had quite a bit of horse."
Arrest Me Red began to slip, falling slightly off the pace. But fighting to keep pace, Ortiz coaxed more from the 4-year-old colt. Taking the lead going down the stretch, Arrest Me Red found another gear to pull clear of the field.
"I know my horse, he doesn't want to be on the lead," Ortiz said. "It was gonna be a fast pace, and he put me in a great position without using too much, so I was happy where I was."
The son of Pioneerof the Nile out of the Medaglia d'Oro mare Maraschino Red paid $7.40 and was followed by Bran, Gregorian Chant , and Gear Jockey , who were separated by a quarter of a length. The remainder of the field finished in this order: Diamond Oops , Caravel , Just Might , Chasing Artie , Johnny Unleashed , Whatmakessammyrun , The Lir Jet , Cowan , and Pyron .
Roy and Gretchen Jackson's Kentucky homebred has won six of his nine starts, including four of the last five. Arrest Me Red's career earnings sit at $638,500. He is the sixth foal out of Maraschino Red. The mare is the dam of one other stakes winner, Hidden Treat (Lemon Drop Kid ). Her latest foal is City of God, a 2-year-old colt by City of Light .