![]() ![]() Off of that there was a concern how much pace there would be, but Joel handled Epicenter. “Early Voting appeared to have the most pace, but they definitely did not want to be on the lead this time. “Beforehand, there was a lot of concern about who was going to be on the lead,” said Asmussen. Gilded Age, Artorius, Ain’t Life Grand and Early Voting completed the order of finish.Īsmussen said Rosario handled the race perfectly after uncertainty about how the pace would shape up. It was a close photo for second as the hard-trying Cyberknife held on to place honors by a nose over Zandon, who bested Rich Strike by a neck for show honors. Cyberknife battled on at the rail with Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike and Grade 1 Blue Grass winner Zandon charging down the center of the course, but there was no catching a dominant Epicenter, who built on his advantage with every stride and completed the 1 1/4 miles in 2:00.72. Meanwhile, Epicenter advanced with purpose two paths from the rail and easily arrived on the outside of Cyberknife to take the lead at the top of the lane. Ain’t Life Grand made a brief move at Cyberknife approaching the final turn, but was overtaken by Artorius as he came under a ride from Irad Ortiz, Jr. Cyberknife bounded clear down the stretch for the first time through an opening quarter-mile in 23.32 seconds over the fast main track.Įntering the backstretch, Cyberknife remained at the front through a half-mile in 47.63 as Grade 1 Preakness winner Early Voting inched up to the outside of Epicenter to be on even terms for third. The even-money favorite in the field of eight accomplished colts, Epicenter emerged from post 6 and sat comfortably in third as dual Grade 1-winner Cyberknife was urged up the rail from the inside post by Florent Geroux to establish command with Ain’t Life Grand tracking just to his outside from post 3. Ron Anderson is amazing and I have to thank him and everyone for all the opportunities they’ve given me.” He was away cleanly and thought he was very comfortable and attending close enough to the pace, and just ran a very dominating performance against a very good group.” ![]() “We walked over today with a tremendous amount of confidence in the horse, but definitely remember we felt exactly that way walking over for this year’s Derby. “It was really gratifying,” Asmussen said. Epicenter bounced back from his troubled Preakness finish with a triumphant return victory by 1 1/2 lengths in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy on July 30 at the Spa. Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen was rewarded for his patience throughout the year with Epicenter after watching the son of Not This Time finish a frustrating second in both the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and Grade 1 Preakness. Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Epicenter, who came up just shy of Grade 1 glory twice this spring in the Triple Crown, secured both his first top-level victory and a place at the top of the sophomore division with an emphatic 5 1/4-length victory under Joel Rosario in the 153rd renewal of the 10-furlong Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. ![]()
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