Explode romps in Ascot Graduation

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Explode paid $5.50 for his impressive win in the $75,000 Ascot Graduation at Hastings Sunday.

Stretching out to a middle distance for the first time, the Kentucky-bred son of Trappe Shot won the mile and a sixteenth race for 2-year-olds by 6 1/4 lengths over Stay Fantastic.

With Amadeo Perez aboard, Explode stalked the pace set by his stablemate Tricky Notis, moved into serious contention at the quarter pole, and with a strong burst of speed took complete control of the race approaching the eighth pole. Stay Fantastic made a late run to get past Dat Day for the runner-up spot. Dat Day sat just behind Explode, looked like a threat on the stretch turn, but could not keep up.

The final time over a track rated sloppy was 1:45.44.

Explode is trained by Mark Cloutier and owned by Ole Nielsen of Canmor Farms.

“He’ll be fed a lot of oats over the winter and we will look forward to running him as a 3-year-old,” said Nielsen.