Bamboo Gap captures Excalibur

Bossier City, La. - Bamboo Gap kept his perfect record on the turf intact on Saturday afternoon at Louisiana Downs as he led throughout in capturing the $50,000 Excalibur Stakes. Clock finished second and Mighty Mystery reported home third.

Benefiting greatly by the late scratch of fellow speedster and four time winner Follow the Storm due to improper shoes, Lonnie Meche soon cleared his four rivals and set reasonable fractions of :23.59, :47.66 and 1:11.50 en route to a three length advantage into the straight of the one mile test for 3-year-olds. Bamboo Gap ($4.80) increased that margin to four lengths at the finish in a time of 1:35.37 over firm going.

The winner is trained by Sam David, Jr. for Richard and Susan Piper and won for the fourth time in six starts, the last three coming on the grass. The son of Archers Bay picked up $30,000 for his winning connections and has now earned over $79,000.