by Jeff Apel

Grade 2 winner Lewis Michael gained command inside the eighth pole and drew clear in the closing strides for a 2 3/4-length win in the $297,500 Pat O’Brien Handicap (G2) on Sunday at Del Mar.

The win earned Lewis Michael an automatic starting spot in the Sentient Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) on October 25 at Santa Anita Park as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” series. 

Lewis Michael, a Frank Calabrese homebred who is a full brother to 2006 champion two-year-old filly Dreaming of Anna, was the first horse Chicago-based trainer Wayne Catalano ever started at the seaside track.

“That was what we came here for, right there,” Catalano said. “Everything went perfect, the whole plan. It’s great when a plan comes together.”

Grade 1-placed Barbecue Eddie set a determined pace and led by one length through a half-mile in :45.07. Lewis Michael stalked Barbecue Eddie from the inside under Rene Douglas and was angled outside approaching the stretch.

Racing in second in early stretch, a half-length behind Barbecue Eddie, Lewis Michael gamely seized command while drifting in and won the seven-furlong race in 1:21.17, a track record for Del Mar’s synthetic Polytrack surface, which was installed in 2007.

Multiple graded stakes winner Rebellion (GB) rallied from last in the field of 12 to finish second, a neck in front of Barbecue Eddie. Midnight Lute, the 2007 champion sprinter who was making his first start in nine months, broke slowly and finished tenth as the 9-to-10 favorite.

Lewis Michael was winless in his previous three starts since earning his first graded stakes victory in the 2007 Washington Park Handicap (G2) on Arlington Park’s synthetic Polytrack surface. The Rahy horse entered off a fourth-place finish on turf in the Sea O Erin Handicap in his five-year-old debut on July 26 at the suburban Chicago track.

Lewis Michael earned his seventh win in 22 starts and increased his earnings to $811,714. Bred in Kentucky, Lewis Michael is one of two winners from as many starters out of Grade 3-placed multiple stakes winner Justenuffheart, by Broad Brush.

For an Equibase chart, click here.

Jeff Apel is a Thoroughbred Times assistant daily news editor