The Critical Way leads all the way in Get Serious Stakes

On Dec. 1, the last time he tried running in a race, The Critical Way was pulled up and vanned off the Tampa Bay Downs course. The better part of six months later, The Critical Way returned to action and ran as well as he ever has, going wire to wire Sunday at Monmouth Park in the $100,000 Get Serious Stakes.

The Critical Way looked, once again, like a serious sprinter, springing to the lead under Angel Rodriguez, setting wicked splits of 21.08 and 43.73, and never facing any sort of threat on the way to a 2 1/2-length victory. The Critical Way was timed in 55.52 for five furlongs over a course rated “good” and paid $10.20 to win as the third choice.

Yes I Am Free, the 2-1 favorite, chased the early pace and paid the price, fading to last of nine. High Limit Room took up pressing the leader as Yes I Am Free began wilting and stayed on well for second, a half-length in front of third-place Discreet Tune. Battle Station and two main-track-only entrants were early scratches.

The Critical Way easily won the 2021 Get Serious, run last June, but was subsequently disqualified from purse money after returning a positive test for the prohibited medication Levamisole. The Critical Way went on to win the Wolf Hill at Monmouth and the Parx Dash last summer, was away from the races several months, and when he failed to finish the December comeback start one might have wondered how much The Critical Way had left in the tank. The gelding, by Tizway out of Critical Factor, by Star de Naskra, is an 8-year-old now, but his 29th career start on Sunday showed a horse still capable of a peak performance.

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“We gave him a little bit of a break to make sure his health is back,” trainer Jose Delgado said. “He was doing great in the morning and coming back great. He showed today he still has it.”

Delgado, who trains The Critical Way for Randal Gindi’s Monster Racing, won three races on the nine-race Sunday program. He said plans weren’t yet set for The Critical Way’s next start.