Kingsport's late surge gives him Shepperton victory
ETOBICOKE, Ontario — The quirky Kingsport nailed 25-1 outsider Jacks Escarpment on the wire to take the $126,200 Shepperton Stakes under Patrick Husbands at Woodbine on Saturday.
After breaking slowly, Kingsport ($4.10) stalked on the outside in the 6 1/2-furlong sprint, as Jacks Escarpment pressed Azimut through splits of 22.50 and 45.25.
Kingsport appeared to be stalling while lugging in on his left lead in the stretch, but he surged late after switching to prevail by a head, in a time of 1:16.57. Sweet Grass Creek rallied from eighth to finish another neck back in third in the 11-horse field of Ontario-sired runners.
“There was a lot of speed in the race, but I just tried to keep him in the clear and ride him as the best horse," Husbands said. "It's very difficult to get him to switch his leads down the lane, but any time you get him to switch, it's hard to beat him. (After swinging) for home, he drifted off and I couldn't get him to switch, so I had to go with the flow and he just switched two jumps before the wire, and just got there in time."
Kingsport, a son of Milwaukee Brew trained by Sid Attard, collected $75,000 for Goldmart Farm and Royal Laser Racing.