Deep Flame impresses with Maxfield Stakes romp
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Deep Flame proved more than ready for a jump from maiden racing to graded-stakes competition, breezing to a 5 3/4-length victory Sunday at Churchill Downs in the Grade 3, $250,000 Maxfield Stakes.
While 6-5 favorite Deep Flame prospered, 8-5 second choice Brant floundered. Reserved off the pace by Flavien Prat, he made a wide bid for the lead coming to the quarter pole before Deep Flame shrugged him off and went far clear of all five of his rivals.
Brad Cox, who trains Deep Flame for his breeder, Juddmonte, noted the rarity of sending an older maiden winner straight into a graded race – and also noted the strength of Deep Flame’s last two maiden performances.
His debut at Fair Grounds was just decent, but Deep Flame at Keeneland turned in a performance that would have won nearly all maiden contests, even on the Kentucky circuit, narrowly beaten by the talented colt Gilded Bandit. Deep Flame returned to score by seven lengths in a six-furlong Churchill maiden, and had worked especially well, Cox said, for the Maxfield.
“He had the foundation for it,” Cox said.
Prize Pick was hustled to the early lead but Deep Flame, breaking well under Irad Ortiz, never let the pacesetter out of his sights. The colt, a diminutive son of Into Mischief and the Speightstown mare Barbadia, has loads of speed, but he also rates, too, and Deep Flame burst forward when Ortiz let him out a notch as Brant loomed.
American Man made some late progress to nab second, one length better than Igniter, who had 1 1/4 lengths on Brant. Off a half-mile in 44.77, Deep Flame zipped seven furlongs – his first try beyond three-quarters – in 1:21.43, paying $4.30 as the favorite.
Deep Flame ran so well in his stakes debut that it would be hard to keep him from another step up in class. That could come, Cox said, in the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens on Aug. 29 at Saratoga.
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