Accredit ($75) takes Dueling Grounds Derby, Adventuring wins Dueling Grounds Oaks

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Front-runners prevailed in companion 3-year-old stakes that opened the six-day Kentucky Downs meet Sunday with wildly disparate tote results.

Accredit went gate to wire in upsetting the $732,325 Dueling Grounds Derby at 36-1 after Adventuring used similar tactics in dominating the $480,400 Dueling Grounds Oaks as a decisive favorite.

Both stakes were run at the once-around distance of 1 5/16 miles and over a turf course that went from firm to yielding after the fifth of 11 opening-day races due to a light drizzle that had fallen for several hours earlier in the day.

Accredit wires Dueling Grounds Derby

Sent straight to an open lead from his inside post, Accredit and jockey Martin Garcia never looked back when holding sway by a length over Yes This Time. It was by far the biggest career win for trainer Pavel Matejka, who co-owns the Flatter colt with Bob Grayson Jr.

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“Martin did a great job to get him out and get clear,” said Matejka, a 44-year-old Slovakia native who began training in 2005 and is based on a farm adjacent to the Thoroughbred training center in Lexington. “Every time he does that, he’s hard to pass. We’re excited.”

“When I asked, he just kept going,” Garcia said.

A two-time winner on the Kentucky circuit this spring, Accredit was overlooked by bettors after finishing second as the favorite in the American Derby at Arlington Park and fourth in a designated prep for this race last month at Ellis Park. He paid $75 after finishing in 2:10.58.

Yes This Time, in from the East Coast for Kelly Breen, rallied steadily down the long homestretch after saving ground on both turns but could not seriously menace the winner. Cellist, the 5-2 second choice, was another 2 1/2 lengths back in third in a field of 11 colts and geldings.

“They went slow up front,” said Breen, who was making his first trip to Kentucky Downs. “But our horse ran his race and I was proud of the effort.”

Du Jour, the 9-5 favorite, had no mishap when finishing eighth.

Adventuring takes Dueling Grounds Oaks

Some 35 minutes earlier, Adventuring was always prominent while kept wide and in the clear by Joel Rosario in dominating the $480,400 Dueling Grounds Oaks for her first turf stakes win.

Trained by Brad Cox for Godophin, Adventuring drew clear in the final furlong without much urging when finishing 1 3/4 lengths ahead of 22-1 shot Viburnum, with Oliviaofthedesert (16-1) another 3 1/2 lengths back in third. The winner paid $4.20 as favorite in a field of seven fillies after finishing in 2:12.15.

“The whole time, when I asked her a little bit, she was there for me,” said Rosario, who enjoyed a sensational day riding four other winners. “She just galloped and galloped and galloped, and she got better and better.”

Adventuring is a homebred daughter of the late Pioneerof the Nile and the Grade 1-winning dam, Questing. Cox tried to run her on the grass when the filly began her career over the winter, but her first three races all came off the Fair Grounds turf when being transferred to the main track.

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Adventuring then won the Bourbonette over the Turfway synthetic in March before being badly beaten in the Black-Eyed Susan over the Pimlico turf. In her two subsequent starts, both on turf, she was fifth in the Tepin at Churchill Downs and third in a designated prep for this race at Ellis Park last month.

“She ran well on the Poly and not so well on the dirt,” said Jimmy Bell, who heads American operations for Godolphin, “so we’d really been looking forward to getting her on the turf after missing those first few races with her. She’s bred for all-day and seemed to handle the distance and this course very well.”

Core Values, the 4-1 third choice, had a three-race win streak snapped when trailing throughout after hopping at the break.

Great day for Sharp

Trainer Joe Sharp saddled three winners and barely missed with a fourth when beginning the meet with a huge day. Sharp swept the early double with Evie’s Prince ($20.20) and first-time starter Misthaven ($5.60) before being narrowly defeated with the race-8 runner-up, Azamana Empire. Sharp then bookended the card when Cruz Bay ($7.60) captured the race-11 nightcap.

Rosario rode Misthaven and Cruz Bay for Sharp, with his other wins coming on Americanus ($12.80) for Steve Asmussen and Vivar ($3) for Cox.

*** Racing continues Monday with an 11-race Labor Day card highlighted by the first of three $1 million races at the meet, the Grade 3 WinStar Mint Million. Perfect weather is forecast. Subsequent cards are set for Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.