Mid American, via the Midway, wins Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint
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Jim DiVito lost his home track – twice, in fact – but hasn’t lost his knack for training fast horses, and on Saturday, he sent Mid American out to win the $750,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint.
Mid American got a very good ride from Jaime Torres, who split horses 1 1/2 furlongs from the wire, diving to the rail for room, his mount taking care of the rest.
Good to Be King, the tepid favorite, came charging wide but fell three-quarters of a length short of the winner.
DiVito, 76, was born and raised in Chicago and summered at Arlington Park until the track was closed in 2021. Mid American trained the first half of this summer at Hawthorne Park just outside Chicago, but Hawthorne ended its meet abruptly in July as it was being sold in bankruptcy court. The Hawthorne backstretch, by court order, must be entirely vacated by Aug. 31.
Mid American left Hawthorne – for good, it turns out -- to debut July 17 at Ellis Park, where he notched a sharp turf sprint maiden win, sharp enough that bettors knocked him down to 5-1 off a 20-1 morning line Saturday.
Mid American broke on top in the 6 1/2-furlong Juvenile Sprint but was displaced a half-furlong into the race by Arctic Wolf, who charged down the hill and into the long, sweeping far turn leading pace-pressing Just a Holiday, Torres biding his time in fifth. The field swung into the long homestretch and Torres, glued to the fence, briefly looked to make an inside run, but his path blocked by Boyhood Dream, he steered right to go about three paths from the rail. Mid American started picking up momentum, Torres split Arctic Wolf and Boyhood Dream, and back down on the fence, Mid American really kicked in, surging to the lead and holding firm through Kentucky Downs’s uphill finish.
The top two were much the best, Pinpoint third, two lengths behind Good to Be King. Mid American clocked 1:17.39 over a firm course.
DiVito trains Mid American, a son of Epicenter and the Exchange Rate mare Wampum Girl, for Richard Templer’s Doubledown Stable. Mid American was bred in Kentucky by Sunny Oak Farm.
Having shifted his stable to Kentucky, DiVito has Kentucky-worthy horses. He trains Nu What’s New, one of the nation’s faster dirt milers, and DiVito won with the only other juvenile he’s started this year, Balloteer, though that colt is currently getting a break.
Mid American paid $31.75 for the minimum $5 win bet, and it pays to pay attention to Jim DiVito, even after the end of Chicago racing.
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