Runco, Casey Big Winners at Charles Town

Trainers Jeff Runco and James Casey and Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races emerged the big winners of the Oct. 8 West Virginia Classics, nine stakes races with total purses exceeding $1.1 million for horses bred in West Virginia.

 The most successful renewal in the event's 30-year history as all-sources handle totaled a record $1,753,600, the night-time event contested over a sloppy track was highlighted by Slip the Cable's 7 1/2-length romp in the featured $450,000 West Virginia Breeders' Classic at 1 1/8 miles. 

Ridden by Arnaldo Bocachica for Runco, whose wife Susan bred and owns Slip the Cable in the name of Coleswood Farm, the 4-year-old son of Midshipman   carved out moderate fractions through six furlongs in 1:12.86 and then drew off for the final margin as 6-5 favorite Charitable Annuity checked in second. The final time was 1:50.44.

The victory was the seventh in 11 starts for Slip the Cable, the 2015 West Virginia Lottery Breeders' Classic winner who was stretching beyond seven-eighths of a mile for the first time.

"Stretching this horse out, we've been wanting to do it," Runco said. "We've had seven weeks between his last race and tonight to get some bottom in him and really get him prepared for the route."

The victory was the 18th in a West Virginia Breeders' Classic race and fourth in the series' featured event for Runco, who has more than 3,700 winners to his credit and been the leading trainer at Charles Town 10 times. Runco had two other stakes winners on the card when Spa Creek won the Distaff and Bullets Fever extended his undefeated record to eight when the 3-year-old won the Lottery Breeders' Classic.

"The entire team and all of our help who work with these horses day in and day out deserve so much credit for this," Runco said. "And without my wife Susan breeding these really good horses, this wouldn't be possible either."

Trainer James Casey had three wins and three stakes-placings on the program, topped by the $135,000 Cavada Breeders' Classic Stakes win by Candy Man's Girl. Ridden by Antonio Lopez, the daughter of Charitable Man pressed the pace of Nay's Back before assuming the lead in upper stretch and completed the seven furlongs in 1:26.21 over the off going, with 2015 winner Cuppa Mocha Mojo finishing second.

Candy Man's Girl, Dash for Cash Breeders' Classic Stakes winner Greenway Court, Triple Crown Nutrition Breeders' Classic winner Scottish Denis, and Division of Tourism Breeders' Classic winner Romantic Cork were all bred by Casey. Candy Man's Girl, Greenway Court, and Scottish Denis and trained by Casey and run in the name of his Taylor Mountain Farm. Romantic Cork is trained and owned by John Casey.

Scottish Denis and Romantic Cork were both sired by Denis of Cork, the son of Harlan's Holiday who stands at Taylor Mountain Farm near Charles Town. A grade III winner who finished third in the 2008 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum Brands (gr. I), Denis of Cork stood for $500 in 2016 and has sired three stakes winners to date.

Charitable Man and Windsor Castle also sired a Classic winner Oct. 8. Windsor Castle stands at Taylor Mountain for $3,500, and Charitable Man stood here as well until his untimely death from an apparent heart attack May 30.

Fiber Sonde, an unraced son of Unbridled's Song, also had two stakes winners on the program. The sire of seven stakes winners, Fiber Sonde stands at Beau Ridge Farm near Kearneysville, W.Va., where his fee was $1,000 in 2016.