Head bob in Opening Verse makes it three in a row for Lagynos
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Lagynos has gotten into the habit of winning – and he apparently doesn’t want to break it.
Seemingly beaten in midstretch, Lagynos split horses in deep stretch under Jose Ortiz and somehow got his nose down on the wire over Chasing the Crown to win the $349,003 Opening Verse Stakes at Churchill Downs. It was a head back to Quatrocento in third.
The win was the third straight for Lagynos, a 5-year-old by Kantharos. He had won five of his first 23 starts.
“I think the horse has matured into understanding the race,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “Fifty yards from the wire, it looked like he was hopelessly beaten and he found a way to win is the difference. Jose said he was beat and he said at the wire he just stuck his head out. He said literally just stuck his head out. He likes that picture.”
Ortiz said he wasn’t sure when they hit the wire if he had won the one-mile turf race.
“I couldn’t pull them apart. Live, it was very close,” Ortiz said.
Lagynos, coming off two graded stakes wins at Fair Grounds, sat a comfortable fourth early on as Quatrocento maintained a length lead over pace pursuer Mi Bago through a half-mile in 47.12 seconds. Giocoso, under James Graham, sat third, and Ortiz said he was content to follow him from fourth.
Coming to the top of the stretch, Chasing the Crown, under Juan Hernandez, came outside of Lagynos and the two basically ran together from the quarter pole to the wire. They collared Quatrocento with 50 yards to go, and for a brief moment, Chasing the Crown seemed in front, but Lagynos surged late to get the victory.
Hernandez said his horse ran his race and the head bob was the difference.
“Right before the wire, I felt like I was in front, and right after the wire, I felt like I was in front. It was just the bob,” Hernandez said. “My horse ran really good. He’s a nice horse.”
Lagynos, owned by Prince Sultan Bin Mishal Al Saud, covered the mile in 1:34.12 and returned $4.54 as the favorite.
Asmussen said he would likely point Lagynos to the Grade 2, $500,000 Wise Dan at 1 1/16 miles here on June 27.
“This was an obvious race for the week for him coming off two very hard races at the Fair Grounds, and I think we’ll regroup,” Asmussen said. “A mile in 1:34 flat – that’s new for him. That’s as fast as he’s went a mile so far.”
If he keeps running that fast, chances are Lagynos will keep winning.
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