Long On Value's Late Run Lands Twilight Derby

Wachtel Stable and George Kerr's aptly named Long On Value ran down game front-runner Sawyer's Hill to take the $200,000 Twilight Derby (gr. IIT) Oct. 31 at Santa Anita Park by a neck, returning $25 on a $2 win ticket .

The 3-year-old son of Value Plus came off a Sept. 13 victory in the Mystic Lake Derby at Canterbury Park to claim his first graded score for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. He closed from midpack with jockey Rosie Napravnik in the irons to complete the 1 1/8-mile turf event in 1:46.82.

Ring Weekend, the 8-5 favorite with John Velazquez riding in the field of 11 sophomores, faded to sixth in the stretch.

"We got a really great trip on the outside and tried to be a little patient," Napravnik said. "He ran great. I thought it was a tough race and I really thought (Ring Weekend) would be really tough to beat. I could tell when we got to the quarter pole that we had more horse than (Velazquez) did and it was just (a matter of) trying to get by the horse on the lead. My horse ran really, really well." 

Long On Value tracked fourth on the outside behind an opening quarter in :24.38 and a half in :48.18, while Ring Weekend pressed Sawyer's Hill and 44-1 shot Yard Line. Moving up as three-quarters went in 1:11.41, the eventual winner straightened away four-wide and ground down to the wire through a 1:34.09 mile, then surged to the front in the final strides.

Divine Oathcompleted the trifecta with a close-up third another neck back.

Off at odds of 9-1, Long On Value paid $25, $11.20, and $6.60. Sawyer's Hill paid $10.20 and $6.40, while Divine Oath brought $6.40. Flamboyant, Talco, Ring Weekend, Patriots Rule, Enterprising, Sammy Mandeville, Yard Line, and Crushed It completed the order of finish. Ashleyluvssugar scratched.  

"My horse is a really good horse and is learning right now," jockey Martin Garcia said of Sawyer's Hill. "I thought that I got it, but I got beat right on the last jump. We broke really good, but he didn't see the rail and was kind of confused. We tucked in and then I had to come back again."

Bred in Virginia by Snow Lantern Thoroughbreds out of the Orientate   mare Long Message, Long On Value improved his record to 5-2-1 from 13 starts for earnings of $418,388. He won the Mystic Lake going a mile and stretched out to 1 1/8 miles for the first time.

"I was doubtful (about getting the distance), but we gave him a chance thinking the turf was firm and maybe we'd have a little more pace than what we'd had," Mott said. "We liked the match-up with Rosie, who's very patient, and I think she did a great job with him. A good ride made a big difference. I just asked her to be as patient as possible, to wait as long as she could. They started to force her hand a little bit around the turn and she got him running and it worked out."

Long On Value began to excel after switching to the turf this season. He tried stakes races on the dirt as a 2-year-old but never factored, putting up off-the-board finishes in the Hopeful (gr. I) and Champagne (gr. I). 

"Of course, everybody's excited about 3-year-old races on the dirt, so you waste a few races sometimes," Mott said. "Fortunately, he's been able to recover from it."