Bangkok Upsets Melmich in Valedictory

Gail Wood and Dr. Ruth Barbour's homebred and longshot Bangkok nabbed odds-on favorite Melmich at the wire to win the Valedictory Stakes (Can-III) Dec. 4 at Woodbine. 

Decision Day went for the early lead with last year's Valedictory winner Melmich, Bangkok, and Ethical Funds tracking close in the 1 3/4 mile event. Setting a leisurely pace, Decision Day lead throughout the first of three turns and Melmich inched up as the field went by the wire for the first time, the pair set fractions of :26.31, :52.23, 1:17.34, and 1:42.24 through a mile on the all weather track. 

Decision Day and Melmich battled it out on the backside. Bangkok continued to stalk the front runners as the field began to bunch up into the turn for home. Melmich started to pull away into the stretch but couldn't escape a surge from Bangkok, under jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson, who nabbed the favorite in the final stride to win by half a length. The final time was 2:59.88.

Ethical Funds finished third by a neck over English Illusion in fourth. Mutasaawy, Aldous Snow, and Decision Day rounded out the field.

“We were going to be really happy with second, but he just kept on running,” Bangkok's trainer W. Phillip Gracey said. “He’s a nice, little horse.”

With post-time odds of 17-1, Bangkok returned $37.60, $7.40, and $4.40 across the board. Melmich paid $2.40 and $2.10, while Ethical Funds was worth $6.70.

The win was the fourth Valedictory score for Wilson and the first graded stakes victory for Bangkok, whose record is now 4-3-3 from 25 starts, with earnings of $288,704. Wilson won the 2006 edition with Marsh Side, the 2012 running with Heathcote, and guided Turkish to victory in 2014.

“I’ve had a little bit of luck in this race,” Wilson said. “It’s one of my favorites races to ride. It takes a horse with a lot of stamina to get it done and Bangkok had that today. It was a big effort and I’m really happy for the owners and the trainer.”

The 5-year-old son of Street Hero—Get It Straight, by Black Minnaloushe, had never raced in graded company before. The gelding entered off a third behind Aldous Snow in a Nov. 11 allowance race at 1 5/8 miles at Woodbine. Racing on both turf and synthetic this year, his only other win came in a June 17 claiming race on the grass also at Woodbine. 

Bred in Ontario by his owners, Bangkok was a $9,500 RNA at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall yearling sale.