Dynamic Strike emerged from a pack of six horses spread across the track with a furlong remaining to record his third straight victory in Saturday’s $75,000 Miracle Wood Stakes for 3-year-olds at Laurel Park.
The entire field was bunched within 1 1/2 lengths approaching the eighth pole of the one-mile Miracle Wood. The group soon began to spread out, with Dynamic Strike’s uncoupled stablemate, Alpha Mike Foxtrot, breaking down inside the eighth pole and dumping rider Jozbin Santana. Alpha Mike Foxtrot, winner of the Maryland Juvenile Championship in late December, had to be euthanized. Santana was uninjured.
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Dynamic Strike, ridden by Forrest Boyce, outfought stretch-out sprinter Where’s Dominic inside the sixteenth pole to reach the wire first in 1:40.58. He won by a length. Lunar Rock finished third at 16-1, 4 1/4 lengths behind the runner-up. New York shipper Vegas No Show faded to fifth, beaten 8 1/2 lengths, as the 4-5 favorite.
A Pennsylvania-bred son of Smart Strike, Dynamic Strike ($7.80) has strung together three consecutive wins since trainer Dick Small stretched him out following a fifth-place finish sprinting in his career debut. Owned by Robert Meyerhoff’s Fitzhugh LLC, Dynamic Strike is an early nominee to the Triple Crown series.
“The race set up good,” said Boyce. “He’s been going to the lead and this was our chance to find out if he could do it another way. He dug in against that other horse and he did it pretty well.”