Divine Oath relishes longer distance in American Derby
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ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – When Divine Oath won a pair of 7 1/2- furlong races over the winter at Gulfstream Park, it was despite the distance, not because of it.
Making his first grass start beyond one mile, Divine Oath rallied powerfully along the rail and nailed English invader Our Channel by a half-length to win the Grade 3, $200,000 American Derby on Saturday at Arlington.
Divine Oath, in from New York for trainer Todd Pletcher and the Let’s Go Stable, won his third race from five starts and captured his first graded stakes. In his most recent race, he had closed mildly to finish fourth in the Penn Mile at Penn National.
“Todd told me he liked the distance,” said winning rider Florent Geroux, who has ridden Pletcher shippers in Chicago before, and took down three graded stakes here Saturday. “I think after the Penn Mile they were looking for a longer race with a longer stretch.”
Geroux said Divine Oath turned off immediately for him, settling comfortably in sixth as 86-1 shot Ghostly Wonder hounded Our Channel on the lead. The pace was moderately strong, the leaders going a quarter-mile in 23.60 seconds and a half in 48.54, but Our Channel, 13th last out in the Epsom Derby, still had a kick for the stretch run. He came home strongly enough but could not contain Divine Oath, who still was fifth at the stretch call before his finishing with a flourish.
“I could see I was going to get through because the other horse was off the rail the entire stretch, but I didn’t think I was going to catch [Our Channel],” Geroux said.
Highball, exiting a maiden win, ran well, rallying outside for third while not quite able to quicken with Divine Oath. But 6-5 favorite Schoolofhardrocks disappointed, flattening out in the homestretch to finish fourth after tracking the leaders from a good inside position. Victor Espinoza said Schoolofhardrocks was flat the last quarter-mile while switching leads several times.
As for the winner, Divine Oath paid $9.20 as the race’s second choice, and he was timed in 1:56.50 for 1 3/16 miles over firm turf. By Broken Vow, and from the female family of champion Personal Ensign, Divine Oath placed behind Mr. Speaker in the Lexington Stakes, but easily ran the best race of his life Saturday, a performance that, if things go well, should set him up for the Aug. 16 Secretariat Stakes here.
It would be no surprise to see Our Channel back next month either. The William Haggas-trained colt settled in well this week, according to assistant trainer Archie Watson, and his natural speed clearly suits American-style racing. The colt will fly home to England on Tuesday, and Watson said he expected no specific plans would be formed until Haggas had a chance to assess his horse.