Lanier Breaks Through in Hanshin Cup at Arlington
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Photo: Coady Photography
Lanier wins the Hanshin Cup Stakes at Arlington Park
Oakview Stable's Lanier entered the $100,000 Hanshin Cup Stakes (G3) at Arlington Park May 11 with four runner-up stakes efforts on his resume, and Saturday he finally notched his first stakes score with a clear run down the middle of the Poly track.
Lanier sat off the pace under jockey Declan Cannon behind Richiesinthehouse and Gone Ghost. The former set fractions of :23.99 and :47.56 before Lanier began gaining ground on the outside. Three-quarters of the one-mile feature went in 1:11.17 as 47-1 shot What's Up Dude found his way into second, but Lanier, 5-1, drew off by four lengths and hit the wire in 1:35.84.
What's Up Dude held for second over Nun the Less and Sir Anthony in the 10-horse field.
Oakview claimed Lanier for $40,000 back in November and the gelding was moved to 26-year-old trainer Brett Santangelo. Lanier, now 7, turned in four runs over Turfway Park's Poly track prior to the Hanshin Cup, winning an optional claiming allowance and running second in the Prairie Bayou and Kubota Kentucky Cup Classic stakes.
"The Hanshin was never really on the radar when we got him. We claimed him because I was going to Turfway for the winter and he had a ton of good synthetic form over there last year," Santangelo said. "We thought he might be able to show up at a few of those stakes over there at Turfway and he sure did, we had a great winter with him."
The Hanshin Cup was the first graded stakes victory for Santangelo.
"I wasn't sure he'd like the one turn mile, but he proved me wrong and it suited him great. I think this horse is so versatile, I wouldn't be afraid to run him 5 1/2 furlongs and I wouldn't be afraid to run him over a mile on the Poly.
"That's what makes it so fun, we have so many options with him, and we can go just about anywhere with him, I'm very confident in this horse wherever we place him."
Lanier, by Lewis Michael , was bred in Kentucky by Dennis Newhouse. He is the second of two foals out of the Arch mare Saint Jamie and the only one to start. The Hanshin Cup improved his record to 9-8-3 in 32 starts, with the winner's share pushing his earnings to $297,364.