Pioneer Spirit battles back in Schaefer Memorial

Steve Landers Racing and trainer Brand Cox claimed Pioneer Spirit for $35,000 last Oct. 9 at Belmont Park, and surely the fact that the horse, 4 at the time, still had a first allowance condition intact spurred their interest. Indeed, Pioneer Spirit cleared that allowance condition in his first start for Cox and Landers – but he has proven a worthwhile longer-term play, as well.

Pioneer Spirit won a second-level allowance in January, a third-level allowance in April, and on Saturday evening at Indiana Grand he led nearly every step of the $100,000 Michael G. Schaefer Memorial Stakes. Pioneer Spirit was displaced on the lead in midstretch by odds-on favorite Seeking the Soul but persevered to win by a short neck.

“He got a little bit tired on me in the end of his last race. I expected him to step up his game and he did,” said winning jockey Florent Geroux. “Seeking the Soul stuck his head in front, but my horse was able to fight back.”

Cox had freshened Pioneer Spirit following an April win at Aqueduct and brought him back in a Churchill allowance race June 16. Hooked most of that trip, Pioneer Spirit finished third, and he had to work harder on the front end Saturday than appeared likely on paper.

Lookin At Lee, whose best-known performance was his closing second in the 2017 Kentucky Derby, was tapped for pace shortly after the start and pushed Pioneer Spirit through a half-mile in a solid 47.08 seconds. Pioneer Spirit finally shook off Lookin At Lee midway around the far turn but by then Seeking the Soul, making his first start since finishing fifth in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational, lurked menacingly three paths off the fence, not being asked and gaining on the leader.

Geroux had gotten busy on his mount at the top of the stretch, and most in-running bets at that point would have landed on Seeking the Soul, winner of the Grade 1 Clark last fall. Instead, it was the upstart Pioneer Spirit who managed to find just enough to get home.

“I thought he had the horse measured,” said Dallas Stewart, who trains Seeking the Soul. “The horse just outfought him the last 20 yards. Maybe he got a little tired.”

Guest Suite finished third, followed by Lookin At Lee and Papa Zulu. Siem Riep and Nun the Less were scratched to run later in the card on turf.

Pioneer Spirit was timed in a quick 1:39.82 for one mile and 70 yards on a fast track and paid $6 to win. He’s a 5-year-old by Malibu Moon out of Haifah, by Machiavellian, who won for the seventh time in 15 tries.