Arizona shipper surprises in Dowd Mile

Elusive Pleasure rallied from behind an unexpected pace battle to spring a $20.40 upset in Saturday's $20,000 Dowd Mile Stakes at Fonner Park.

Making his stakes debut, Elusive Pleasure and rider Jordan Olesiak settled behind the front-end battle of Roaring Home and 2-5 favorite The Nutz. Moving between rivals to contention on the far turn, Elusive Pleasure responded through the stretch to wear down Roaring Home and score by a half-length in 1:40-flat for the mile over a fast track. The Nutz came up empty in the drive after his early efforts and faded to third, 1 3/4 lengths farther back.

Elusive Pleasure, trained by Jason Wise for his grandfather Ron and partner Aaron Swan, had been based at Turf Paradise this year and posted his third win of 2010. He previously had scored for a $16,000 tag and in allowance company on turf under trainer Dennis Sowers while in Arizona.

The Dowd Mile served as the local prep for the $75,000 Bosselman/Gus Fonner Stakes on April 24. Elusive Pleasure will likely be pointed to that stakes. Free nominations for the Bosselman/Fonner close Wednesday.