Rattle N Roll, Wicked Halo Win Churchill Dirt Stakes
Image:
Description:
Photo: Coady Photography
Rattle N Roll wins the American Derby at Churchill Downs
Main-track specialists took full advantage as the two 3-year-old events originally slated for the turf on the July 2 card at Churchill Downs instead were run on the main track to allow for recovery of the adjacent grass course.
Rattle N Roll , a fringe player on the Triple Crown trail, found the $200,000 American Derby easier as he rolled down the stretch to add his name to an illustrious victors' roster in the $200,000 American Derby and Wicked Halo dominated the $188,500 Tepin Stakes.
The surface change came a day before entries were drawn and most of the original entries were familiar with that surface. Still, each saw three race-day scratches, leaving just four to contest the Tepin Stakes for 3-year-old fillies and eight for the American Derby, a race with a storied history in its previous venue, the shuttered Arlington International Racecourse.
Lucky Seven Stable's Rattle N Roll, a Connect colt trained by Kenny McPeek, stuck close to the pace in the Derby, ranged up alongside Kuchar Saturday turning into the stretch and got clear in the final furlong to win by two lengths. Kuchar held second with Red Run third. Rattle N Roll, under Brian Hernandez Jr., completed 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:43.27. He paid $5.40
Rattle N Roll won the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) at the Keeneland fall meeting but was unable to progress from that after a five-month break. He finished fifth in the Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2), then fourth in the Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2), and sixth in the Toyota Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland. He most recently was third in the Matt Winn Stakes (G3) under the Twin Spires.
In its heyday at Arlington, the American Derby was won by such equine legends as Bold Reason , Damascus , Buckpasser , Round Table , Swaps , Native Dancer , Citation, and Whirlaway . Modesty won the inaugural running in 1884 and the race also has been staged at various times at the old Washington Park track near Chicago and at Hawthorne Race Course.
Video: American Derby (BT)
Wicked Halo and jockey Tyler Gaffalione made the running of the Tepin about as interesting as watching the turf track grow. With only four starters after the surface switch and three race-day scratches, Wicked Halo went to the post as the prohibitive favorite and Gaffalione rode to those notices.
After tracking just behind and outside the leading pair of Heartyconstitution and Verylittlecents , Wicked Halo moved to challenge entering the turn, was in front exiting the bend, and rolled home smoothly to win by 4 3/4 lengths. Heartyconstitution outlasted Zawish for second, and Verylittlecents faded badly to get home last. The winner returned $2.60 for a $2 wager.
Wicked Halo, another of the Gun Runner offspring who have been so good to trainer Steve Asmussen and owner-breeder Winchell Thoroughbreds, finished the one-turn mile in 1:36.91. She won for the third time while going beyond seven furlongs for the first time.
Wicked Halo finished her 2-year-old campaign with an emphatic victory in the 2021 Adirondack Stakes (G2) at Saratoga. But, like Rattle N Roll, she struggled early this season before finding the winner's circle June 12 in the Leslie's Lady Stakes Stakes at seven furlongs on the Churchill Downs dirt.