Looks to Spare stuns in huge West Virginia Governor's upset

Claimed for a mere $5,000 less than four months earlier, Looks to Spare pulled a 74-1 stunner Saturday when striding away from nine other older horses in the $200,000 West Virginia Governor’s Stakes at Mountaineer Park.

Ridden by the track’s perennial riding leader Deshawn Parker, Looks to Spare looped into contention in the final turn of the 1 1/16-mile Governor’s before going on to prevail by 2 1/2 lengths, returning $150.60 to win. Page McKenney, the 5-2 second choice, finished second, another four lengths before Majestic Harbor.

Carve, the 5-2 favorite, tired to finish sixth, while Commanding Curve, the 2014 Kentucky Derby runner-up, never was a factor when finishing seventh as the 3-1 third choice.

Owned by O’zbekiston Racing and trained by Otabek Umarov, Looks to Spare was claimed for $5,000 at Hawthorne on April 8 when winning at 1 1/16 miles. In four subsequent starts, all on his Illinois home circuit, the 5-year-old gelding had won once, defeating statebreds in a first-level allowance on Polytrack on May 22 at Arlington Park. In his most recent start, the son of Pollard’s Vision had finished last of seven in the Grade 3 Arlington Handicap on turf.

Carve and Albano gave closest chase to the early leader, the 117-1 shot Trouble X Two, but neither had much in reserve as Looks to Spare and Page McKenney closed strongest down the stretch. The winning time was 1:44.55 over a fast track.

Not surprisingly, the vertical exotics were huge: the $2 exacta (9-6) paid $458.20, the $1 trifecta (9-6-1) returned $4,025.40, and the 50-cent superfecta (9-6-1-3) was worth $9,436.75.

Freestyler and Grasshoppin were early scratches.

Parker, the North American wins leader in 2010 and 2011, now has five stakes wins this year. Omarov began training in earnest last year and now has nine wins from 70 starts for his career, with this being by far his richest victory.