'Improving' Sir Winston Wins Display Stakes
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Photo: Michael Burns
Sir Winston wins the Display Stakes at Woodbine
Sir Winston forged to the lead in the final turn and held off a familiar foe to earn his first stakes victory in the $100,000 Display Stakes for 2-year-olds Dec. 8 at Woodbine.
The Mark Casse-trained chestnut colt, who had to share the spotlight in his maiden-breaking win Sept. 12 when he dead-heated with Inclusive, claimed sole ownership of the Display Stakes honors when he finished one length in front of that rival during Saturday's 1 1/16-mile feature.
With blinkers added, Sir Winston and Jerome Lermyte followed frontrunner D Magician through early fractions of :25.21 and :49.95 before launching their attack heading towards three-quarters in 1:13.36 with 6-5 favorite The Boss Factor looming three-wide. Sir Winston struck the front in the final turn and held clear of the late-closing Inclusive for the victory in a final time of 1:45.02. Global Access was within striking range throughout and came through inside of The Boss Factor down the stretch to snag third-place honors.
Sent off as the 4-1 third choice, Sir Winston paid $10.20, $5.30 and $3.80.
"I thought there would be some speed," said Lermyte after the race. "I thought maybe one or two more. They didn't come early so it was perfect for me. I just didn't want to be behind one that would stop so I made the decision to come out a little bit, but the trainer asked me to be a little bit closer today and it paid off."
Sir Winston, who finished third when making his stakes debut last time out in the Oct. 21 Grey Stakes (G3), now has two wins through his first five lifetime starts for owner/breeder Tracy Farmer. He was bred in Kentucky out of the Afleet Alex mare La Gran Bailadora.
"He's been doing nothing else but improving and that's awesome when you can get that feeling," said Lermyte, who has been aboard the colt for his last three races at Woodbine. "Even in the morning, he was giving us some very nice breezes in the morning, so we were very confident today."
The victory marked Lermyte's sixth successful stakes pairing this meet with Casse, who has won a season-high 21 added-money events.
"It was an awesome year," said Lermyte, who will look to put the finishes touches on his career-best season in which he has won 36 races and ranks among Woodbine's top 10 jockeys. "It's been great winning all the stakes and obviously the incredible support from Mark is just amazing."