Miles Ahead notches first stakes victory with Smile Sprint
Miles Ahead, a former claimer making his stakes debut against graded stakes company, parlayed a perfect trip into a half-length victory over Chance It in Saturday’s $200,000 Smile Sprint Invitational at Gulfstream Park.
Diamond Oops, who narrowly defeated Miles Ahead in their previous meeting, finished third as the 8-5 favorite in the Grade 3 dash.
Miles Ahead had a modest two-race win streak snapped when beaten a head by Diamond Oops in an overnight handicap four weeks ago. But he proved much the best of the pair in the rematch while ridden to victory by Victor Espinoza, who replaced jockey Edwin Gonzalez after the latter was thrown from his mount in the previous race.
Miles Ahead broke alertly and stalked a rapid early pace set by Willy Boi and attended by Shivaree. With a handful of horse under him from the outset, Espinoza allowed Miles Ahead to join the leaders while kept wide into the stretch. The pair assumed command before five furlongs, edged clear at midstretch, then withstood a belated bid by Chance It. The latter came wide while rallying off the turn, finished willingly but was not good enough making just his second start since the 2020 Tampa Bay Derby. Diamond Oops also lost ground into the stretch, rallying belatedly to finish third while never seriously threatening the top pair.
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Miles Ahead, who won his maiden under a $12,500 claiming tag in January 2020, is owned by the partnership of David Melvin, Leon Ellman and Laurie Plesa and trained by Eddie Plesa Jr. He covered the six furlongs in 1:09.61 and paid $8.60.
“He’s an improving horse, one of those horses you have to have patience with,” Plesa said. “Some of these horses are late developers and he’s come around nicely. We gave $175,000 for him [as a 2-year-old]. I worked him and he never showed anything. I put him on the turf and he got beat 30 lengths. I dropped him in for $12,500 and he won by the length of the stretch. He’s been an over-achiever since then.”