Double Crown ($86.50), despite short rest, upsets Kelso Stakes

Norman “Lynn” Cash is not afraid to run his horses and will often wheel them back in a little at a week’s time.

In deciding to do just that with Double Crown in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Kelso Stakes at Aqueduct, Cash was looking at it as a business decision, figuring that regardless where the gelding finished he could yield a profit.

“If we hit the board we get [$36,000],” said Cash, who claimed Double Crown for $40,000 in June.

Double Crown hit the top of the board, rallying past 1-2 favorite Baby Yoda to upset the Kelso at odds 42-1, by far the longest shot in the six-horse field. Double Crown, under J.D. Acosta, won by 1 3/4 lengths.

“I’m over the top,” Cash said by phone from Utah, where he attended a funeral earlier in the day. “Forty-two-to-one, that’s the biggest odds I’ve ever had. And it’s my first graded stakes.”

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Double Crown, a 5-year-old gelding by Bourbon Courage, finished fourth in the Maryland Million Classic at Laurel on Oct. 22. Cash said the horse came out of the race in good order and since he was shipping three other horses to New York for the Grade 2 Bold Ruler, also on Saturday’s card, he decided to ship Double Crown as well.

“At the end of the day, it’s a business and since I own them all it comes down to dollars and sense,” Cash said. “Do I have enough money to pay my bills? I was guaranteed [$9,000] even if we ran last.”

Under J.D. Acosta, Double Crown was fifth of sixth early on, but within 2 1/2 lengths of the lead. Empty Tomb set the early pace but was joined by Shackqueenking and Baby Yoda entering the far turn. Baby Yoda, under Javier Castellano, took the lead turning for home and had a 1 1/2-length lead in midstretch.

But Double Crown kept on coming and took over inside the sixteenth pole and edged clear. Baby Yoda finished second by 8 1/4 lengths over Shackqueenking. Empty Tomb, Morello and Title Ready completed the order of finish.

“I saw Javier stay wide and he had the best horse,” Acosta said. “So, when he made the move, I was able to follow him down the stretch, then put him on the outside. I felt like I had plenty of horse and I thought I was going to win."

Double Crown covered the mile in 1:37.16 and returned $86.50 to win. He earned Cash and his wife Lola, the co-owner, $165,000.

“The perception is these horses need 21 or 28 days to recuperate,” Cash said. “I think at 10 days, you get 95-to-98 percent of what the horse can do. Part of my decisions are from a business standpoint. I train horses as an owner, not a trainer.”

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