Fair and Square finally prevails over Who Dey in Governor's Buckeye Cup
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Fair and Square turned the tables on Who Dey and won the Governor’s Buckeye Cup by a neck Saturday at Thistledown.
Fair and Square had taken two narrow losses to Who Dey in Ohio-bred stakes races but held him off after setting the pace in the Buckeye Cup, one of five $100,000 Ohio-bred stakes on Saturday’s card.
Who Dey went off the 1-9 favorite in the 1 1/4-mile Buckeye Cup, a silly price considering Fair and Square, who thrives in 1 1/4-mile races, had come within a head and a neck of defeating Who Dey the last two years. Rocco Bowen put Fair and Square right on the lead, set a solid pace while racing in the clear, and staved off a sustained rally from Who Dey as the two old rivals drifted into the middle of the track for the final half-furlong, pulling more than 15 lengths clear of third-place Tantrum.
Fair and Square clocked 2:03.80 over a fast track and paid a generous $14.80. Timothy Hamm trains Fair and Square, a 6-year-old gelding by Super Saver out of Marathon, by Drosselmeyer, for co-breeder Blazing Meadows Farm, and America's Thoroughbred Investors.
In the other race for older horses, the six-furlong Honey Jay, Superwolf won his seventh straight, defeating Empire’s Fire by 2 3/4 lengths. Fortissimo finished third, while Silent Rule, the mare who has never lost in 10 starts, was scratched in favor of a Sunday allowance race at Mountaineer Park.
Superwolf, contesting the pace from the start, was timed in 1:10.84 under Erik Barbaran. Robert Gorham trains the 4-year-old gelding, now 17-11-2-1 for his career, for Mast Thoroughbreds. Superwolf is by Instagrand out of Sunshineandsilence, by Speightstown.
The 2-year-old filly Panda Listen romped in the Miss Ohio, outshining the 2-year-old gelding Book Value, who came through as the odds-on favorite in the Cleveland Kindergarten.
A good second debuting last out in a Belterra Park Ohio-bred stakes, Panda Listen broke sharply under Fernando de la Cruz and never really had an anxious moment. Odds-on favorite Motownsnojoke, who did suffer a wide trip, tried to make an upper-stretch run, but Panda Listen swiftly kicked clear and won by six lengths, paying $4.40 as the strong second choice. Brendan Walsh trains the winner for Emcee Stable, and Panda Listen, who fetched $200,000 at auction earlier this year, is by Tiz the Law out of Lightning Lucy, by Giant’s Causeway.
Panda Listen ran six furlongs in 1:11.56, while Book Value ($2.40) needed 1:12.74 to defeat Breakheart Pass by one length in the Cleveland Kindergarten. Breakheart Pass made Book Value work a bit, but the heavy favorite, Barbaran up, ran his record to 3-3. Gorham also trains Book Value, a son of Mandaloun and the Speightstown mare Wall Street Lady who campaigns for the Marion Gorham Revocable Trust.
And, finally, Candlelight Hours scored a repeat victory in the Pay the Man Stakes, which she won for the third time while making her fifth appearance in this route race for older fillies and mares. Candlelight Hours got a good rail-skimming trip under Terry Houghton and won the Pay the Man by 1 1/2 lengths over 3-5 favorite Silver Kiss. Candlelight Hours, now a 16-time winner from 38 starts, races for her breeder, Elkhorn Oaks, and is trained by James Jackson. The mare is by Dominus, out of Nava, by Even the Score, and she paid $7.20 after running nine furlongs in 1:54.44.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.
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