NEWS
Take the Points wins Secretariat thriller
Posted: Saturday, August 08, 2009 4:30 PM
TAKE THE POINTS
FourFootedFotos.com
To view the Secretariat Stakes, click here.
by Mike Curry
Take the Points inched past Black Bear Island (Ire) near the finish after a thrilling duel to win the $400,000 Secretariat Stakes (G1) on Saturday at Arlington Park.
The first of three Grade 1 races on Arlington’s International Festival of Racing, the Secretariat got the sequence started with a bang as Take the Points and Black Bear Island battled stride for stride through the final quarter mile. Black Bear Island appeared poised to hold off Take the Points, but the Even the Score colt would not be denied in the final strides under Kent Desormeaux, prevailing by a head on yielding turf.
Starlight Partners’ Take the Points completed 1 1/4 miles in 2:05.41 to post his first career graded stakes win win after previously placing twice in graded stakes. He finished fourth, beaten by 1 1/2 lengths, in his turf debut for trainer Todd Pletcher in the Colonial Turf Cup Stakes (G3) on June 20 and entered off a runner-up finish on July 18 in the Virginia Derby (G2), both on the grass at Colonial Downs.
With a Grade 1 win under his belt, Take the Points appears to have found a home on turf.
“He is a wonderful horse. He has a great stride and showed it throughout the race, and really had a strong stride down the lane," Desormeaux said. "He was comfortable down the backstrech and had a ton of fight at the end.”
Hoosier Kingdom set a controlled pace under Elvis Trujillo through a half-mile in :51.35 and six furlongs in 1:16.29. Black Bear Island stalked from second under Johnny Murtagh with Take the Points positioned on the outside in third.
Black Bear Island surged past Hoosier Kingdom on the turn and was quickly joined by 2.70-to-1 favorite Take the Points, setting up a stretch-long battle to the finish.
The Totesport.com Dante Stakes (Eng-G2) winner finished 3 1/4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Laureate Conductor.
“My horse ran a very good race," Murtagh said. "It was just the last 20 yards or so he went dead on me. The winner just got me at the wire.”
Grade 3 winner Oil Man (Ire) was another neck back in fourth; Arlington Classic Stakes winner Giant Oak finished a nonthreatening seventh.
Take the Points improved to three wins in ten starts and boosted his earnings to $494,590 with the Secretariat win. Bred in Kentucky by Phoenix Farm, Take the Points is out of the multiple stakes-producing Fred Astaire mare Ginger Ginger.
For an Equibase chart, click here.
Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor
