Anarchist, in synthetic debut, holds off Ice Chocolat in Jacques Cartier
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Southern California shipper Anarchist got hammered down to favoritism just prior to Sunday’s Grade 3 Jacques Cartier at Woodbine, and he didn’t disappoint his backers by winning his synthetic track debut in a gutsy display.
Last year’s Jacques Cartier victor, Arzak, went straight to the front in the six-furlong Tapeta sprint and was pressed by Anarchist through moderate fractions.
Anarchist ($7.70) assumed command entering the stretch and then held off a late bid from 10-1 shot Ice Chocolat to prevail by three-quarters of a length, in a time of 1:08.96.
Old Chestnut wound up third and was followed by Candy Overload, Ironstone, Arzak, Ready for a Fight and Red River Rebel.
“He’s a very strong and powerful horse,” winning rider Luis Contreras said. “I got no troubles at all in the race. He broke perfect. I was just waiting to make my move. I had so much horse the whole way.”
In his first start for trainer Josie Carroll, Anarchist earned $90,000 of the $152,100 purse for Ilium Stables. The 4-year-old son of former leading sire Distorted Humor was coming off back-to-back seconds in a pair Grade 3 stakes on different surfaces at Santa Anita, when trained by Doug O’Neill.
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