Factor This holds on in Wise Dan
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Front-running favorites came through in both turf stakes that highlighted a fan-free Saturday card at Churchill Downs when Factor This earned a hard-fought triumph in the Grade 2 Wise Dan after Field Pass breezed home in the Audubon.
Factor This had to work every step of the $200,000 Wise Dan, finally fending off English Bee in the final stages of the 1 1/16-mile race to prevail by a neck. Parlor was another three-quarters of a length back in third in a field of nine older horses.
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Factor This, a 5-year-old horse owned by Gaining Ground Racing, now has won three straight graded stakes for jockey Shaun Bridgmohan and trainer Brad Cox, having accounted for the Grade 3 Fair Grounds and Grade 2 Mervin Muniz in his prior starts. He paid $4 after finishing in 1:41.15 over firm going.
“He definitely had some pace pressure up front,” said Cox, noting how 14-1 shot Ritzy A.P. clung close to Factor This from the start to the quarter pole. “I was proud of how he dug in and hung on. It was another big effort.”
Parlor loomed a huge threat at the furlong pole before yielding in the final 100 yards to finish a half-length before Aquaphobia.
Cox, the leading trainer at the spring meet, said running Factor This back in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile on July 10 at Keeneland “would probably be back a touch quick, but we’ll see how he does.”
The $2 exacta (3-2) paid $30, the $1 trifecta (3-2-11) returned $105, and the 10-cent superfecta (3-2-11-5) was worth $36.82.
Field Pass ($5) wins Audubon
Some 90 minutes earlier, Field Pass and jockey Tyler Gaffalione set a relaxed pace when dominating the inaugural running of the $100,000 Audubon for 3-year-olds.
Sent away the 3-2 favorite in a field, Field Pass won by a measured length over late-running Bama Breeze when completing the 1 1/8-mile distance in 1:47.99.
Owned by the Three Diamonds Stable of Kirk Wycoff, Field Pass now has won three stakes from his last four start. He won the Feb. 1 Dania Beach at Gulfstream Park and the March 14 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park prior to finishing a troubled third in the War Chant over the Churchill turf last month.
Bridgmohan, who returned later to win the Wise Dan aboard Factor This, was thrown shortly after the start of the Audubon when his mount, the Cox-trained Kinenos, stumbled badly. Bridgmohan quickly bounced to his feet.