Injunction sets track mile record in taking Cowboy Jones
Injunction assumed a tenuous lead soon after the start before fighting off a couple of challenges in a hard-fought victory Saturday in the first running of the $70,000 Cowboy Jones at Ellis Park in western Kentucky.
Injunction, a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding, returned $6 as the favorite after lowering the track record to 1:34.33 for a mile run over a fast track. Rafael Bejarano was aboard for owner-trainer Carlo Vaccarezza and his son and onsite assistant, Nick.
“I am really happy for the team,” Bejarano said. “My horse ran the whole way. He had heart all the way to the end.”
Down the backside and to midstretch, Injunction went stride for stride with Last Samurai lapped to his outside before finally edging away, only to have West Will Power challenge from the outside in the desperate final yards. The final margin was a head, with Last Samurai another three-quarters of a length back in third. An original field of 10 older horses was reduced to just six with four early scratches.
:: DRF Bets members get FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic. Join now!
Injunction, by Skipshot, now has won four of 11 starts, with this being his first stakes triumph. Among his prior starts was a runner-up finish behind Three Technique in the Knicks Go on the Kentucky Derby undercard.
The $2 exacta (1-5) paid $28.80, the $1 trifecta (1-5-7) returned $49.28, and the 10-cent superfecta (1-5-7-2) was worth $13.65.
The former record for a mile at Ellis, which is run out of the elbow chute on the clubhouse turn, was 1:34.41, set in 2014 by Looking Cool.
The race honors the memory of Robert A. “Cowboy” Jones, the retired jockey who died in April at age 79. Jones was a legend on the smaller tracks of Kentucky, namely Ellis and the old Miles Park, riding his first winner in 1959 and his last at Turfway Park in 2004. He was immensely popular in and around his hometown of Henderson.
More stakes on tap
Four turf stakes worth $100,000 will be run Sunday at Ellis, all of them designed as preps toward the Sept. 1-14 Kentucky Downs meet. They are the Evan Williams and Centennial Distaff, both at a mile, and the Twin Spires and Laguna Distaff, both at 5 1/2 furlongs.
The signature events of the 23-day summer meet are set for next Sunday, Aug. 14, when the $200,000 Ellis Park Derby and $125,000 Groupie Doll highlight an afternoon of five stakes, all on the main track.