Angaston wins in first start since serious van accident in 2019

Patience paid off Thursday evening for trainer Lon Wiggins when Angaston returned from a 22-month layoff in going gate to wire in a $99,628 turf-sprint allowance at Churchill. Mitchell Murrill was aboard for Wiggins and the Twin Magnolia Farm of Jim Jankiewicz.

Angaston, a 6-year-old gelding, had not raced since August 2019, when he suffered injuries to his hind legs and head in a highway accident just south of Chicago. The horse trailer in which he was being transported was returning to Kentucky from a race at Canterbury Park in Minnesota when the accident occurred.

“He got banged up pretty good,” Wiggins said. “It took us a while to get him right. We almost had him ready to run last year, but then he had a little something with a suspensory, and we had to repeat the process of healing him up all over again. So this was definitely a rewarding win and the owner deserves a lot of credit for his patience.”

Wiggins said Angaston will probably have an interim race before returning for a start at the Sept. 5-12 meet at Kentucky Downs, where the gelding won the Franklin-Simpson Stakes as a 3-year-old in 2018. “He’s a tough competitor, all class,” said Wiggins.

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Wiggins, 52, is the son of Hal Wiggins, best known as the original trainer of the Hall of Fame filly Rachel Alexandra. Hal Wiggins, 78, is mostly retired but still does spot work as a steward on the Kentucky circuit and elsewhere. Hal and his wife, Renee, are spending most of the summer vacationing with friends in New Mexico.