Drafted goes last to first in Mr. Prospector
Eight-year-old Drafted’s 28th career start marked his first at Monmouth Park, and, swooping last to first under Luis Rodriguez, he won the $106,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes by three-quarters of a length.
In from New York for trainer David Duggan, Drafted ran six furlongs on a fast dirt track in 1:10.52 and paid $12.60 to win, a pretty fair price for a horse exiting victory in the Grade 3 Runhappy Stakes at Belmont. That performance yielded only a modest 87 Beyer Speed Figure, but the fact the aging sprinter hadn’t run especially fast was part of the reason he came back just three weeks later at Monmouth.
“We would not have come here after three weeks if he was not training well,” Duggan said. “He didn’t get a huge number that we felt that he would have a huge setback in his last race, so that’s why we leaned in this direction.”
A wicked pace battle set the plate for Drafted’s wide run around the far turn and his subsequent homestretch heroics. River Dog tore out of the gate chased by tepid 7-2 favorite Hollywood Jet, the pair hooking up through an opening quarter-mile in 21.57 seconds. Some folks seem to believe the Monmouth dirt track mostly favors inside speed, but generally speaking that has not been the case this meet, and after a half-mile in a grueling 44.52, the leaders were toast.
Doc Amster was the first to attack, but his move quickly flattened as Greeley and Ben came rumbling up to take the lead past the eighth pole. That did not last long as Drafted, more than a dozen lengths behind the leaders after a quarter-mile, chugged past to victory.
Greeley and Ben finished second while Milton the Monster and Hollywood Jet, who held on gamely, dead-heated for third.
Owned by Dublin Fjord Stables, Racepoint Stables, Kevin Hilbert and Thomas O’Keefe, Drafted is a son of Field Commission and the Darn That Alarm mare, Keep the Profit. After going 0-7 during 2021 his ninth career win marked his third from four starts during 2022 and Drafted is less than $1,000 away from hitting the $1 million mark in earnings.
“He’s just a cool old horse,” Duggan said. “It’s nice to win races with cool old horses.”