Domestic Dispute captures Strub

ARCADIA, Calif. - More than nine months after being acquired privately in the days before the Kentucky Derby, Domestic Dispute overcame trouble to post an upset in the $300,000 at Santa Anita.

Domestic Dispute ($30.60) rallied from seventh in the final furlong to win by a neck over During, who is trained by Bob Baffert.

Baffert was Domestic Dispute's former trainer before the colt was sold for an undisclosed sum by Gary Garber to Chuck Winner and David Bienstock and turned over to Paddy Gallagher last April. The Strub was Domestic Dispute's fifth start for Winner and Bienstock.

"When you spend that kind of money you're supposed to win the big race quicker than that," Gallagher said.

Ridden by Kent Desormeaux, Domestic Dispute finished 1 1-8 miles in 1:49.08. Domestic Dispute raced in a stalking position for the first six furlongs, chasing Buckland Manor and Anziyan Royalty who set fractions of 22.35 and 45.83 seconds.

Domestic Dispute was sixth on the final turn, but waited for room behind the frontrunners until midstretch.

"I was thinking, just get through," Gallagher said.

At the eighth pole, Domestic Dispute was still seventh, trailing Buckland Manor by four lengths. Desormeaux moved Domestic Dispute to the outside and got an immediate response.

During caught Buckland Manor in the final sixteenth, but Domestic Dispute caught During with 10 yards to go. Desormeaux accented the win by pumping his right fist in the air as he crossed under the line.

"I knew he was full of run," Desormeaux said. "I just had nowhere to go."

Buckland Manor finished third, a half-length in front of Midas Eyes, the 5-2 favorite in the field of 11.

The Grade 2 Strub was Domestic Dispute's first stakes win since the Grade 2 Santa Catalina Stakes in 2002, when he raced for Garber and Baffert. In the Derby, Domestic Dispute finished 10th. The colt has won 3 of 16 starts and $483,115.

"We thought he was a heck of a horse and we were looking at the long-term," Winner said of the purchase. "Fortunately, we were right."