Bango completes big day for Foley in Kelly's Landing Stakes
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bango capped a huge day for his connections when capturing his second ungraded sprint stakes of the Churchill Downs spring meet, outlasting a final surge from Mucho in taking the $107,025 Kelly’s Landing on Friday, the penultimate day of the meet.
“Just a great day,” said a jubilant Greg Foley, who trains Bango and Major Fed, two of his three winners on an 11-race card. “This is what keeps you getting up early every morning.”
Bango worked out a good stalking trip under the meet’s leading jockey, Tyler Gaffalione, before prevailing by a nose over Mucho, a 19-1 shot ridden by Gabriel Saez. The winner paid $15 after finishing seven furlongs in 1:21.25 over a fast track.
Strike Power, who led to the furlong grounds before being overtaken by Bango, was third, two lengths behind the top pair, while Art Collector was no factor when finishing sixth of nine older horses in his first start in nearly eight months.
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Bango, owned by the Tamaroak Partners of Fred and Debbie Schwartz, won the six-furlong Aristides on May 29 in his previous race and now has won 6 of 9 career starts at Churchill. The 4year-old Congrats colt is 1 for 9 elsewhere.
Fred Schwartz, under the Lloyd Madison Farms banner, also is a principal in Major Fed ($3.60), who earlier on the card rallied from last to win a first-level allowance going 1 1/16 miles in his first race in nine months. Major Fed ran 10th in the postponed Kentucky Derby last September.
“I was a little worried about him, but he came through,” said Foley, who also won the Friday opener for Tamaroak, a maiden-claiming sprint, with Brew Crew ($15.40).
Art Collector, the 6-5 favorite in the Kelly’s Landing, “was swapping leads back and forth and just didn’t really seem to get into it,” said jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. “We need to get him back on form.”
The $2 exacta (6-1) paid $158.60, the $1 trifecta (6-1-2) returned $282.20, and the 10-cent superfecta (6-1-2-7) was worth $242.33.
The 38-day spring meet closes Saturday with a 12-race card highlighted by a pair of Breeders’ Cup Challenge races, the Grade 2 Stephen Foster and Grade 2 Fleur de Lis. Ellis Park in western Kentucky starts its 31-day summer meet Sunday.