After being demolished from the rail post, Lane’s End Racing and Hronis Racing’s Flagstaff were brought out by jockey Joel Rosario and the Speightstown 7-year-old gelding ended up determined to overtake the leader in Special Reserve and win the Commonweath Stakes Class 3 on Saturday by 1 1/4 length on the Keeneland Racetrack in Lexington, Ky.
Flagstaff, who was coached by John Sadler, won for the first time since the G2 San Carlos at Santa Anita on March 7, 2020. He completed the seven furlongs on a fast mainline in 1: 21.84 and paid $ 5.80 for 9th -5 favorite.
Special Reserve just finished second on a fast closing attachment rate, with Bango fourth and Mucho fifth out of the field of seven senior sprinters.
Special Reserved, reclaimed two starts for $ 40,000 by trainer Mike Maker, set all fractions: 22.98 for the first quarter mile,: 45.97 for the half and 1: 09.80 for six furlongs. Bango chased the front runner from the outside while Flagstaff raced inside until Rosario released him from the track and turned into the track. He led the gelding further out in the middle of the route and Flagstaff responded to the clear sailing with a strong finish.
Flagstaff, bred by Summer Wind Farm in Kentucky, is out of the AP Indy mare Indyan Giving. He improved his record from 18 starts to six wins, six seconds and three thirds. He finished third in the Hot Springs Handicap in Oaklawn behind CZ Rocket and the reigning sprint champion Whitmore.
Quotes after the race:
Joel Rosario (winner of Flagstaff)
“I’ve been thinking about getting out sometime. With an inner post position, I just had to be there. It broke really sharply and I was in a good place and I was just waiting to be clear when I could go forward. “
“He ran for me (came out on the track). Sometimes you know how much (horse) you have when you start moving, but I stopped moving and he kept moving forward so I felt very good about how much horse I had. “
Bill Farish (from winner of co-owner Lane’s End Racing)
“When you have that one post, you either send it or you don’t, and it looked like (Joel) sent it in the beginning, and maybe the horse is just a little over its legs. But when he swung it outside, it really did a great run. It’s really fun to have an older gelding like him. He keeps coming back on big days and winning big races, and it’s great fun for everyone involved. “
Mike Maker (Trainer of Runner-Up Special Reserve)
“He tried really hard – tried very hard.”
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