One Timer ($41.94) runs away with Franklin-Simpson Stakes
FRANKLIN, Ky. – One Timer immediately shot to the front from his far outside post and never looked back in pulling a 19-1 upset of the Grade 2, $527,250 Franklin-Simpson Stakes, the last of 12 races Saturday at Kentucky Downs.
As the 1-2 favorite, Big Invasion, labored in mid-pack, One Timer and jockey E.T. Baird were never threatened in winning the 6 1/2-furlong Franklin-Simpson by 4 1/4 lengths, finishing in 1:14.59 over firm turf. Run Curtis Run was second, another two lengths before Big Invasion in a field of 12 3-year-olds.
“I was able to open up a couple lengths right away,” Baird said. “He has a really high cruising speed. He was doing it easy, and when I asked him, he just re-broke. I wasn’t worried about any of them behind me.”
Big Invasion was a lopsided favorite when entering off five straight wins, the last two in Saratoga stakes. Ridden by Joel Rosario, the colt had no mishap before rallying belatedly to edge Asymmetric by a neck for third. There was a dead heat for fifth between Heaven Street and Stitched.
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Larry Rivelli, the longtime Chicago kingpin, is the trainer of One Timer, owned by Richard Ravin and Patricias Hope LLC. The bay Trappe Shot gelding returned $41.94 in winning for the fifth time in eight starts, a record that includes three prior stakes wins, the latest an easy score in the May 23 Tom Ridge over synthetic at Presque Isle Downs. He was coming off a distant ninth-place finish in the St. Louis Derby, partly accounting for his big odds.
Baird, 55, was winning his first stakes since May 7 at Hawthorne, his home track. He and Rivelli have a longstanding history from their Chicago days.
The $2 exacta (12-7) paid $728.72, the $1 trifecta (12-7-6) returned $918.84, and the 10-cent superfecta (12-7-6-10) was worth $406.38.