River Boyne Finds Enough to Win Twilight Derby
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Photo: BENOIT PHOTO
River Boyne (outside) wins the Twilight Derby at Santa Anita Park
Everything went perfectly for Robert Evans' homebred Have At It in the $200,000 Twilight Derby (G2T) Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park.
Jockey Joel Rosario put in a picture-perfect ride aboard the Kitten's Joy colt—he saved every inch of ground on the rail behind the early leaders, found a wide gap to shoot through at the top of the lane, and appeared to be full of run for a sprint to the wire.
Unfortunately for the East Coast invader and last-out Hill Prince Stakes (G2T) winner, he ran against a colt who owns the grass course at Santa Anita.
Unlike Have At It, River Boyne saved little ground in the second turn of the 1 1/8-mile Twilight Derby. After a good break from post 7 under jockey Flavien Prat, the Dandy Man colt tucked into the two path in the first turn but made his move four wide in the second bend under a drive from Prat, while Rosario sat chilly in the saddle.
Pacesetter Majestic Eagle, after he ran a half-mile in :46.64 and three-quarters in 1:10.34, still had a one-length advantage with a furlong to run but could not hold off the closers. The wide move may have taken a little out of River Boyne's closing punch, but it was still enough as he finished a half-length ahead of Have At It to push his undefeated record over the Santa Anita grass to five races. Have At It held second, a nose in front of Desert Stone, who tried to rally between the top two finishers.
Majestic Eagle held fourth, 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Platinum Warrior, who was followed by Kazan, Epical, Andesh, and Pubilius Syrus to complete the order of finish. The final time was 1:46.70.
"The way the race set up, I thought I could follow (Andesh), but he was done early, so I was forced to go wide," Prat said of River Boyne, who finished third in the Del Mar Derby (G2T) last time out, only his second loss in a stretch of seven starts. "When my horse can settle, he makes a big run, and he did it today."
"Last time he got a little rank, and that didn't help," added winning trainer Jeff Mullins. "Today he made me a little nervous there at the end, but he was able to grind it out. Once he gets clear and he gets to his right lead, they better be running because he's got a heck of a kick."
Owned by Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal, River Boyne now has a 6-2-1 record from 12 starts and $511,718 in earnings. He was bred in Ireland by Limestone and Tara Studs, out of the Mark of Esteem mare Clytha.