Get Western scores first stakes win in Old Friends
Get Western seized early command and never looked back Thursday in posting an 8-1 upset in the $250,000 Old Friends Stakes at turf-only Kentucky Downs in south-central Kentucky.
Ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., Get Western opened a sizable advantage on the opposition midway through the long stretch before finishing 1 1/2 lengths ahead of runner-up Cullum Road. Space Mountain was third, Zero Gravity was fourth, and Mr. Misunderstood, the 6-5 favorite, had no mishap when finishing 10th.
Get Western, a 4-year-old gelding who cost a mere $1,000 as a yearling, returned $19.80 after finishing a mile and 70 yards in 1:43.96 over a firm course. The Kentucky-bred son of Get Stormy is trained by Charlie LoPresti for owner Ward Pitfield.
The Old Friends was restricted to horses that had not won a stakes in 2019, but unlike some of his rivals, Get Western had never won a stakes, period. That all changed when he turned back a couple of early challengers before building a margin large enough to allow him to stride under the wire comfortably ahead.
“He never traveled like he was going to get beat,” said Hernandez. “Around the turn, it’s a little chewed up, but he’s so athletic I was able to put him so close to the fence that he was able to get on the good path. He was just cruising. Turning for home when I called on him, he picked it up again. I didn’t even worry about anything else. I thought, ‘If a horse beats him from this point, they really have to be running.’”
Get Western, a one-time winner from his first eight starts, had won two of his last three coming into the Old Friends, sandwiching allowance wins at Churchill Downs and Ellis Park around a 10th-place finish in the Grade 2 Wise Dan. He earned $148,280 on Thursday, more than doubling his career bankroll.
An original slate of 14 older horses was reduced to 11 when Catapult, the morning-line favorite, was an early scratch, along with the Wesley Ward pair of Master Merion and Undrafted.
The $2 exacta (6-2) paid $122.60, the $1 trifecta (6-2-13) returned $760.60, and the 10-cent superfecta (6-2-13-14) was worth $695.13.
The Old Friends is named for the Thoroughbred retirement home founded in 2003 near Georgetown, Ky., by Michael Blowen, who was on hand to present the winner’s trophy. Besides the purse money, the winner gets a lifetime spot at an Old Friends facility upon its retirement.
Thursday was the second day of the five-day Runhappy meet that runs through Sept. 12. The richest card in track history is set for Saturday with the $1 million Kentucky Turf Cup and four other stakes.