Hometown Hero Runnin'toluvya Wins Charles Town Classic
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Photo: Coady Photography
Runnin'toluvya makes history in the Charles Town Classic
The climb from a $35,000 stakes to a graded stakes worth $1 million may seem extraordinarily steep, but for Runnin'toluvya, there was one rather important constant in the two races.
Both came at the racetrack where the 5-year-old gelding has become a hometown hero.
So when a West Virginia-bred finally captured the Charles Town Classic Stakes (G2) at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, it was altogether fitting that Runnin'toluvya filled that role. In the 11th edition of the 1 1/8-mile stakes April 20, the home team prevailed as Runnin'toluvya registered a half-length victory over Diamond King for his ninth straight win, all at the Ranson, W.Va., racetrack.
Though the field of 10 for Saturday's edition featured four horses with earnings of at least $1.4 million, including two past winners of the grade 2 stakes, the major share of the seven-figure purse was taken home by connections that visit Charles Town on a daily, rather than annual, basis.
Foremost among the "little guys" in this surprising tale is the gelding who ventured out of West Virginia-bred stakes and faced open stakes rivals for the first time March 29 when he opened his 2019 campaign with a 3 1/4-length victory in the $35,000 Russell Road Overnight Prep Stakes. He is a son of Fiber Sonde, a stallion who stands in West Virginia for a $1,000 fee.
Runnin'toluvya's trainer, Timothy C. Grams, ranks third in the Charles Town standings with 18 wins, and the ownership entity, Grams Racing Stable, is tied for the most wins at the meet with 10.
For Grams, notching his first graded stakes win in a $1 million race was a dream come true.
"It hasn't really sunk in yet, to be truthful with you," he said. "I'm just lucky to own a horse like this who steps up and seems to always do what we ask him to. We've put a lot of challenges on him, but he's stepped up and really surprised us.
"I know this sounds corny, but this is the best thing that's ever happened to me besides me meeting my wife 18 years ago. This is just unbelievable. Especially for a country boy that didn't have anything. It means anybody who walks through this gate here has a chance, and that's why this business is so great."
Aboard Runnin'toluvya was Oscar Flores, a Charles Town regular with 17 wins at the meet. Flores, who had never won a graded stakes, and Runnin'toluvya, who had never raced in a graded stakes, won a protracted duel on the front end over grade 3-placed Preakness Stakes (G1) starter Diamond King, who was ridden by four-time Eclipse Award winner Javier Castellano.
"My horse, when he had the lead in the stretch, he always gave me another gear," Flores said. "Whenever I asked, my horse just responded again. Every time I asked, he gave me more."
The win was the 12th in 15 starts at Charles Town for Runnin'toluvya, and it provided a significant boost of $564,000 to his earnings, lifting him to a career mark of $913,916.
Runnin'toluvya's previous start gave him a big edge in conditioning over rivals such as War Story, who finished second in last year's CT Classic, and grade 1 winner Discreet Lover. That pair were making their first starts of 2019, and it helped pave the way for Saturday's heroics.
With that effort under his belt, Runnin'toluvya raced just off Diamond King's flank as the two wheeled around the three turns, posting early fractions of :24 and :48:25 with 2017 Woodward Stakes (G1) runner-up Rally Cry a length back in third.
Midway on the final turn, Runnin'toluvya edged to a short lead, and he and Diamond King drew away from the rest of the field. Entering the stretch, it was clear it would be a two-horse race to the wire between a journeyman and a Hall of Famer rider—and it went to the journeyman.
Running outside of Diamond King, Runnin'toluvya led by a half-length at the eighth pole and maintained that margin to the wire, covering the nine furlongs in 1:50.56.
Sent off at 9-1 odds, he returned $21.20 to win.
Runnin'toluvya, who was unplaced in his lone career start outside of Charles Town, was bred by Leslie G. Cromer out of the Not for Love mare Love'emnrun.
The John Servis-trained Diamond King, the $2.90-to-1 second choice owned by D.J. Stable, Cash is King, and LC Racing, finished 5 1/2 lengths ahead of War Story. Rally Cry, the $2.60-to-1 favorite trained by seven-time Eclipse Award winner Todd Pletcher, was another three-quarters of a length back in fourth.
Something Awesome, the 2018 Charles Town Classic winner, was sixth, and Imperative, who has not won since posting his second Charles Town Classic win in 2017, was eighth at 84-1 odds.
Discreet Lover, winner of the 2018 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1), finished last and was vanned off in his first start since finishing eighth in last year's Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).
Also on the card, the $100,000 Dance to Bristol Stakes for fillies and mares went to Devine Mischief ($29.20), and Malpais ($4) was victorious in the $100,000 Robert Hilton Memorial Stakes for 3-year-olds.
The 13-race card generated a single-day wagering record of $5,720,375, breaking the old mark of $4,847,106 on Charles Town Classic Day in 2015.