by Tom Musgrave

Multiple graded stakes winner Notional reeled in 9-to-10 favorite Gottcha Gold and turned back a last-ditch effort from that foe to win the $300,000 Salvator Mile Handicap (G3) by 2 1/4 lengths on Saturday at Monmouth Park.

As expected, Gottcha Gold, winner of the 2007 Salvator Mile, went right to the front and set the pace through a half-mile in :46.06 and six furlongs in 1:10.09 on a track rated as fast. Notional saved ground early under jockey Joe Bravo, rating in fifth through a half-mile before making a steady advance on the final turn.

"I was sitting way off the pace early, and when I asked him I went from about six to seven lengths back to right up with the leader," Bravo said.

Notional put a head in front of Gottcha Gold in early stretch, and the two opponents dueled down the lane. Jockey Eddie Castro was able to coax a little more out of Gottcha Gold in midstretch, but not enough to outlast Notional, who finished the one-mile test in 1:35.84 to post his first win in five starts this season.

Trained by Mark Hennig for owner J. Paul Reddam, Notional earned a starting spot in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita Park with the Salvator Mile victory as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” series.

Honest Man recovered from a bobble at the start in his graded stakes debut and finished well for third, 2 1/4 lengths behind Gottcha Gold.

Notional, a four-year-old In Excess (Ire) colt, recorded his first win since annexing the Risen Star Stakes (G2) in February 2007 at Fair Grounds. His campaign this season included a start in the Middle East in the Dubai Duty Free (UAE-G1), in which he placed last in a field of 16, as well as three starts on in California for former trainer Doug O’Neill.

The bay colt followed his Risen Star victory with a runner-up finish in the Florida Derby (G1), after which he was out of training for more than 11 months while recovering from a fractured cannon bone. Notional kicked off his 2008 campaign with a third-place finish in the Daytona Handicap on February 17 at Santa Anita Park before he was shipped to Dubai.

Bred by Vessels Stallion Farm, California-bred Notional is out of the French Deputy mare Truly Blessed. He has won four of 11 starts and earned $695,740.

For an Equibase chart, click here.

Tom Musgrave is internet content editor of Thoroughbred Times