by Tim Nichols

Delightful Kiss swept to the lead from the outside and drove to victory in the $100,000 Turfway Park Fall Championship Stakes (G3) on Saturday at Turfway Park.

Calvin Borel moved Delightful Kiss off the rail to the outside entering the final turn. Delightful Kiss accelerated to the lead entering the stretch and powered to a 1 1/4-length victory.

Bushwood Stables’s four-year-old Kissin Kris gelding established a track record of 2:32.25 for 1 1/2 miles on the synthetic Polytrack surface and earned his second career graded stakes win as well as an automatic berth in the inaugural Breeders' Cup Marathon on October 25 at Santa Anita Park as part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" series.

Argentine Group 1 winner Star Plus (Arg) edged Grade 1 winner Dominican by a neck for second.

Delightful Kiss, sent off at 8.50-to-1 odds, conserved energy throughout the race under Borel, who rated his mount in eighth then ninth as Canela set the pace under pressure from A. P. Xcellent

Delightful Kiss dropped more than ten lengths off the pace as Canela controlled the tempo through an opening quarter in :25.11 and maintained the lead through a half-mile in :49.55 and six furlongs in 1:15.50.

Winner of the 2007 Ohio Derby (G2), Delightful Kiss raced in ninth after a mile in 1:41.66 as the field drew closer to Canela. With three furlongs remaining, Borel roused Delightful Kiss, moved him four wide, and the Kissin Kris gelding drove past tiring Canela to take the lead.

Dominican was unable keep up with Delightful Kiss and faded to third as Star Plus (Arg) charged from off the pace to finish second.

Jade’s Revenge, the 3-to-1 favorite, encountered traffic trouble throughout the race and finished sixth.

Trained by Pete Anderson, Delightful Kiss has won five of 19 career starts and earned $577,087. He is out of the winning French Deputy mare Deputy’s Delight.

For an Equibase chart, click here.

Tim Nichols is a Thoroughbred Times assistant daily news editor