Dennis' Moment cruises to Iroquois Stakes win
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Often times, the hype proves unjustified. But when Dennis’ Moment cruised to a geared-down, stakes-record victory Saturday in the Grade 3, $200,000 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs, even some of his skeptics had to concede the colt has a bright future.
“This showed what a good colt he is,” said Dale Romans, the locally based trainer who has helped fuel the hype with glowing talk about the Tiznow colt. “Our focus for now will be the Breeders’ Cup, but everybody knows what lies beyond that.”
Romans was referring, of course, to the 146th Kentucky Derby next May. Dennis’ Moment earned an automatic Win and You’re In berth into the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita while also earning the first 10 qualifying points toward the 2020 Derby. He did it by finishing 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.58 over a fast track, breaking the record for the Iroquois, which had been run at a mile until being lengthened to its current distance in 2013.
A huge favorite off a 19-length maiden victory at Ellis Park in July, Dennis’ Moment returned $2.80 to win. Scabbard ran on well to finish second, 1 3/4 lengths behind the winner, while Lebda held third in a three-way photo with Letmeno (fourth) and Rowdy Yates (fifth) among a field of 10 2-year-old colts.
“A stakes record, that’s pretty good,” said an elated Romans, who trains Dennis’ Moment for the Albaugh Family Stable. “Hopefully, this is just the start of some great things. We’re all so excited.”
With Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, Dennis’ Moment sat a pretty trip after getting jostled a bit in the run into the first turn. A cool fourth down the backstretch, he began gaining on front-running Juggernaut and a couple of others when Ortiz began calling on him.
“I just gave him a little smooch, and I was like this,” said Ortiz, acting as if he were being pulled out a saddle. “He is a good horse, that is for sure.”
Romans said the mild trouble for Dennis’ Moment in the early stages “is probably good for him.” In contrast, the stretch run was all clear sailing, as the colt looped to the lead leaving the quarter pole and quickly opened daylight. Ortiz throttled him down in the last 70 yards or so, making for a win margin that surely could have been bigger.
The $2 exacta (8-3) paid $13.60, the $1 trifecta (8-3-9) returned $72, and the 10-cent superfecta (8-3-9-2) was worth $29.69.
* A couple of longshots in the early pick five (races 1-5) resulted in no payoffs and a carryover of $124,958, a sum that will be added into the pool for the late pick five (races 6-10) on Sunday.
