Divine Oath Holds Off Bashart in Kent Stakes
Image:
Description:
By Jerry Bossert
After being overmatched in last month's Secretariat Stakes (gr. IT), Divine Oath found himself back in the winner's circle when he held off Bashart to take the $150,000 Kent Stakes (gr. IIIT) Sept. 20 at Delaware Park by three-quarters of a length .
Saving ground throughout under jockey Jose Caraballo, Divine Oath rallied up the fence when pacesetter Lafontaine drifted off the rail at the top of the stretch, allowing Divine Oath to grab the lead, before holding off Bashart through the stretch to score as the 4-5 favorite.
Other Cheek was involved from the start and lasted to be third, while Lafontaine weakened to fourth and was followed by Craftsman, Cabo Cat, and Gadget Man.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, it was the fourth win from seven lifetime starts for the 3-year-old colt by Broken Vow , who completed the mile and an eighth over the firm turf course in 1:47.78, coming close to the course record of 1:47.27 set by Optimizer when he won the 2012 Kent.
The winner has now earned $335,850 for owner Let's Go Stable.
It was the first Kent Stakes victory for both Pletcher and Caraballo.
Divine Oath made his debut on Jan. 18 and won the first two starts of his career before finishing second in the Lexington Stakes (gr. III) at Keeneland Race Course on April 19.
After finishing fourth in the $500,000 Penn Mile on May 31, Divine Oath won the American Derby (gr. IIIT) at Arlington International Racecourse on July 12 before finishing sixth in the (gr. IT) Secretariat Stakes.
Divine Oath returned $3.60 to win, $2.40 to place and $2.20 to show. Bashart returned $4.40 to place and $3.20 to show, while Other Cheek paid $4.40 to show.
Divine Oath was bred in Kentucky by Sanford R. Robertson and is out of the mare Rejoicing.
He was purchased for $200,000 by Let's Go Stable from the Select Sales consignment at the 2012 Keeneland September yearliong sale.