O'Kratos gets first stakes victory in Marine

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – O’Kratos justified his favoritism with a determined score over Machtree in Sunday’s $128,000 Marine, giving jockey Eurico Da Silva a sweep of the two stakes on the Woodbine card.

O’Kratos tracked the pacesetter, Inge, through honest fractions in the 1 1/16-mile route as Machtree hugged the rail while far back in the early stages. O’Kratos assumed command early in the stretch and then held off an inside bid from Machtree to win by three-quarters of a length in 1:43.90.

Aheadbyacentury rallied belatedly on the far outside to edge out Archaggelos and Inge for third. Rose’s Vision finished sixth as the 5-2 second choice in the eight-horse field of 3-year-olds.

O’Kratos ($5.90) was noticeably keyed up in the warmup and early in the Grade 3 event before settling into a groove.

“He settled down pretty good in the first turn,” said Da Silva, who won the New Providence Stakes earlier on the card with Pink Lloyd. “From there, he was running very focused. I took a shot and made him run a little bit early because he was so relaxed. He ran a beautiful race.”

A son of Paddy O’Prado trained by Darwin Banach, O’Kratos earned $75,000 in his first stakes tally for the partnership of Terdik Farm, Sharon Bonder, and Walter Banach.