Dr. Kapur ($50.24) survives fast pace, takes Perryville in three-horse photo finish
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Dr. Kapur slalomed his way through the homestretch under Tyler Gaffalione and nailed Chief Wallabee on the wire to win the Perryville Stakes at odds of 24-1 Saturday at Keeneland.
Dr. Kapur won by a neck, with Obliteration, a nose behind, rounding out a three-horse photo finish as a fast pace on a tiring racing surface left the Grade 3, $350,000 Perryville to the closers.
Deep Flame, favored at 4-5, stalked the pace and bid wide around the far turn, reaching contention at the three-furlong marker, but was out of gas by the three-sixteenths pole and faded to sixth.
Roscoe’s Brother, making his stakes debut after winning his first two starts in Southern California, held very well to finish fourth, 1 1/2 lengths behind Obliteration, after laying down splits of 22.11 and 44.59. That was an impossible pace to sustain over Saturday’s laboring dirt track, and it took Dr. Kapur 1:24.25 to complete his seven furlongs, easily the slowest Perryville in seven renewals run at this distance.
Trained by Saffie Joseph for co-breeder Ken Ramsey, Dr. Kapur was a front-runner early in his career, and last fall at Keeneland went wire to wire winning a maiden sprint. He took a brief step onto the Kentucky Derby trail this past winter before quickly showing his connections he didn’t want to run long. He performed poorly coming back from a layoff in a Saratoga allowance race on July 18, but since has found his niche as a one-run closing sprinter. Dr. Kapur rallied to win a first-level allowance in August and was a fast-closing second last month at Parx Racing in the Grade 2 Gallant Bob.
Dr. Kapur had one horse beat going into the far turn but found his stride past the three-eighths marker, Gaffalione angling off the rail at the five-sixteenths to go around Solitude Dude. Gaffalione edged right and tried for an outside run, but Deep Flame drifted into his gap, and Gaffalione took Dr. Kapur back inside to split Deep Flame and American Man at the eighth pole. Roscoe’s Brother, Chief Wallabee in hot pursuit, still had the better part of five lengths on Dr. Kapur, but the last move proved the best move, Obliteration closing outside Dr. Kapur, but not quite fast enough.
Dr. Kapur ($50.24) is by McKinzie out of Ava’s Kitten, by Kitten’s Joy, and a revamped running style brought him to a new peak in the Perryville Stakes at Keeneland.
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