Avanzare makes most of good trip in Washington Park

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Gifted the easiest of early leads, Avanzare and jockey Chris Emigh made the most of it, surging when headed in deep stretch by the longshot Hattaash to win the Grade 3, $150,000 Washington Park Handicap by a head. The favored Mister Marti Gras, undone by a slow pace, rallied belatedly for third, a neck behind Hattaash.

The victory provided Emigh, 39, with a milestone, the 3,500th win of his career.

Gimmeadrink had won three starts against lesser opposition at this meet by racing gate to wire, but he was eased off the lead after the break as Avanzare, making his synthetic-surface debut after eight grass races, jogged onto the engine.

“I was surprised I got an easy lead,” said Emigh, one of the veterans of the Chicago circuit. “Once I got through the first quarter, I thought he was going to be tough.”

Indeed, the opening fraction was a tepid 24.94 seconds, the half a pokey 50.04, and Avanzare, most recently a close fourth in the Arlington Handicap on July 12, still was coasting into the stretch. But when Emigh asked his mount to pick up in the stretch, Avanzare began hanging right, and as he drifted, Hattaash and Sheldon Russell came calling. Russell said he thought Hattaash would finish right past Avanzare, but as he reached the leader’s flank, Avanzare fought back.

“The other horse got his head in front. I thought I was beat, but he came back,” said Emigh.

Mister Marti Gras, well behind the tepid tempo and wide on the far turn, finished fastest but ran out of racetrack.

“I thought they would go a little faster than that,” said his rider, Eddie Perez. “It hurt me.”

Avanzare stopped the timer in 1:52.76 for 1 1/8 miles on Polytrack, paying $8.60 to win. A 4-year-old gelding by Grand Reward, Avanzare – owned by Donato Lanni and John Youngblood and trained by Tom Proctor – won for the fifth time in nine starts. He has been first or second in eight of his races.