NEWS
Redding Colliery holds on for Hawthorne Gold Cup win
Posted: Saturday, October 02, 2010 9:25 PM
REDDING COLLIERY
FourFootedFotos.com
For video of the Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap, click here.
by Patrick Reed
Redding Colliery opened an 8½-length lead midway through the far turn in the $250,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap (G2) on Saturday but had to dig deep in the final furlong to outlast fast-charging Giant Oak and A. U. Miner for a three-quarter-length win.
Ridden by Rosie Napravnik, Redding Colliery took the lead early from his inside post position and saved ground while setting early fractions of :23.25 and :47 through a half-mile, with minimal pressure from Arcodoro and Shadowbdancing.
Redding Colliery dispatched those foes and continued to cruise through the far turn. Greenwood Cup winner A. U. Miner and multiple graded stakes-placed stakes winner Giant Oak each commenced rallies from well back entering the stretch, but Redding Colliery’s lead appeared safe.
The four-year-old Mineshaft colt began to shorten stride past the sixteenth pole and Napravnik urged her mount for more energy. Giant Oak, a confirmed deep closer, and A. U. Miner quickly shaved lengths off of Redding Colliery’s lead, but both ran out of real estate and settled for second and third, respectively, separated by a neck.
“All I heard about Hawthorne is that it was speed favoring,” Napravnik said afterward. “They said that the stretch was so long, that if you could put some distance between you and the other horses you were better off.
“I knew I was on a quality horse and Redding Colliery took me all the way. He runs his race every time—it doesn’t matter where.”
Redding Colliery covered 1¼ miles in 2:04.16 on a track rated as fast and improved his overall record to six wins in 17 starts and earnings of $608,353. He entered the race off of a second-place finish in the Philip H. Iselin Handicap (G3) on August 21 at Monmouth Park. Prior to that, he earned his first graded stakes win for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin in the Lone Star Park Handicap (G3) on May 31.
Bred in Kentucky by Gainesway Thoroughbreds and 707 Stables, Redding Colliery is out of the winning Zilzal mare Joop.
Amazing Results rallies for nose win in Robert B. Carey Memorial (video)
Team Block’s Amazing Results, sent off at odds of 11.80-to-1 odds, rallied five-wide alongside fellow closer Tybalt and overtook pacesetter Exchanging Kisses in the final strides of the $100,000 Robert B. Carey Memorial Handicap (G3), the final race on Hawthorne’s Saturday card.
Amazing Results, ridden by Eddie Perez, edged Tybalt by a neck to score his first graded stakes win and snap an 11-race winless streak dating to the summer of 2008. The five-year-old Grand Slam horse covered one mile in 1:35.65 on firm turf.
Tybalt finished another neck in front of Exchanging Kisses, who held third by two lengths over Tawaared after setting an unchallenged pace through the backstretch.
Illinois-bred Amazing Results racked up four stakes wins in 2008 but had not visited the winner’s circle since annexing the Forward Pass Stakes at Arlington Park on August 8. The Chris Block trainee served notice that he was rounding into form in his start prior to the Robert F. Carey with a fast-closing runner-up finish to Due Date in the Kentucky Cup Turf Dash Stakes on September 11 at Kentucky Downs.
Amazing Results is out of the Grade 3-winning Lord At War (Arg) mare Ioya Two. He improved his career record to six wins from 21 starts and earnings of $354,784.
For Equibase charts, click here.
Patrick Reed is a Thorougbred Times contributing writer
