NEWS
Rahystrada posts a shocker in River City
Posted: Friday, November 27, 2009 5:56 PM
RAHYSTRADA
Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography
To view the River City Handicap, click here.
by Ron Parker
Robert E. Courtney’s Rahystrada, dismissed in the wagering at odds of 56.90-to-1, charged from off the pace on Friday to defeat nine opponents in the $112,700 River City Handicap (G3) at Churchill Downs.
Trained by Byron Hughes, the five-year-old Rahy gelding earned his first career stakes victory. Rahystrada’s only previous stakes start this season was a seventh-place finish in the Independence Day Handicap at Mountaineer Race Track on July 4. The Independence Day Handicap was his first start in a stakes since finishing third in the 2006 Grand Canyon Handicap at Churchill Downs.
Ridden by jockey Leandro Goncalves, who rode Rahystrada to an allowance victory at Keeneland Race Course in his previous start, the chestnut gelding settled in midpack in the 1 1/8-mile turf race before Goncalves angled him out for running room. Rahystrada opened a three-length lead in early stretch and continued strongly in the lane for a 2¼-length victory, covering the distance in 1:49.18 on firm turf.
"I had a very good trip,” Goncalves said. “When the horses began to split, I had an opening and slipped through. I knew going in it was a tough race. I just rode him very confidently, and he ran big for me like he always does. All three times that I have been on him, I have won. Today was a test to see how good he was. He proved that he fits with these horses.”
Grade 1 winner Rahy’s Attorney battled gamely after taking the lead through six furlongs and held on for second, a nose in front late-running Pleasant Strike.
The race proved to be an adventure for 8-to-5 favorite Karelian, who took the early lead but drifted out to the outer rail on the backstretch before jockey Rajiv Maragh finally was able to steer him back toward the inner part of the course. The seven-year-old Bertrando gelding battled back to challenge briefly for the lead but was unable to maintain his bid in the stretch and faded to eighth.
“I have no idea what happened,” trainer Rusty Arnold said of Karelian’s antics. “Rajiv said that he broke sharp, eased over toward the rail and when he got to the first turn he just started heading for the outside fence. He’s a seven-year-old and he’s never done anything bad in his life. Rajiv said he ran to the outside and he couldn’t get him—he said he was going to pull him up, but then all at once he dropped back into the race again. After he went around that turn, obviously he was done.”
Bred in Kentucky by Jaime S. Carrion, Rahystrada is out of the Deputy Minister mare Ministrada and is half brother to Grade 3 winner Lone Star Sky. His River City victory increased his career earnings to $265,654 with eight wins from 22 starts.
For an Equibase chart, click here.
Ron Parker is a Thoroughbred Times contributing writer
