Keeneland: Sum of the Parts repeats in Phoenix

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Tom Amoss has often called Sum of the Parts “the fastest horse from the gate” that he’s ever trained in his 26-year career. But that only means something when Sum of the Parts carries that speed to the wire, which is exactly what the Speightstown colt did Friday in repeating as champion in the 161st running of the Grade 3, $200,000 Phoenix Stakes on opening day of the 17-day Keeneland fall meet.

Sum of the Parts was never headed in registering his first victory since the 2012 Phoenix, returning $27.20 after finishing the six-furlong race in 1:09.56 over Polytrack. Laugh Track, a 10-1 shot, was up in the final jump to get second, 1 1/4 lengths behind the winner and a head in front of Go Blue Or Go Home, with Gentlemen’s Bet, the 2-1 favorite, finishing another half-length back in fourth in a field of 12 older horses.

Sum of the Parts is “very fast and very sharp coming out of the gate,” said winning jockey Leandro Goncalves. “By the second jump I was already clear of everybody else. That was the plan and we’re fortunate it worked out today.”

Sum of the Parts, a 4-year-old colt owned by the Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence, earned a Win and You’re In berth to the Breeders’ Cup for the second straight year. Last year, he finished a creditable fourth at 29-1 in the BC Sprint off a gate-to-wire score in the Phoenix.

Amoss said he would have to consult the owners about running again in the Nov. 2 BC Sprint at Santa Anita, but “if it’s my vote, and my vote alone, it’s on to California."

“I made a grave error with him this spring by bringing him back before he was really ready to run,” added Amoss, alluding to the colt’s 0-for-3 record this year before the Phoenix. “He’s the most athletic horse I’ve had, and the quickest.”

Early scratches from an original cast of 15 were Global Power, Hogy, and Console.

The $2 exacta (11-6) paid $301.80; the $1 trifecta (11-6-8) returned $966.30; and the 10-cent superfecta (11-6-8-7) was worth $267.50.