Pioneer Spirit a hard-fought winner in Tenacious Stakes
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
NEW ORLEANS – His new connections paid $150,000 to acquire Pioneer Spirit through a Nov. 2 claim at Churchill Downs, and Pioneer Spirit repaid them – in part – with a game win Saturday at Fair Grounds in the $75,000 Tenacious Stakes.
Pioneer Spirit proved, dare we say, both spirited and tenacious bearing down through the final half-furlong as favored Blended Citizen closed in. The wire came before Blended Citizen could reach the front, and after finishing third in the 2018 renewal of this race, Pioneer Spirit got the money this time.
Trainer Robertino Diodoro dropped the claim on Pioneer Spirit, who moved out of the barn of trainer Brad Cox, and it’s Cox who trains Blended Citizen. Pioneer Spirit, pressing the pace of inside-speed Tringale under David Cohen, got the jump on Blended Citizen, who hit a slight but costly flat spot at the quarter pole after getting a favorable inside stalking trip under Florent Geroux.
In a race with several on-paper pace factors, the Tenacious unfolded at a surprisingly modest tempo, the opening quarter mile going in 24.88 seconds, the half in 48.04. Pioneer Spirit got the better of Tringale at the quarter pole and has always been a hard-trying horse. He was as pugnacious as ever in the Tenacious, his head victory running his record to an outstanding 11-4-7 from 28 starts, and Pioneer Spirit evidently doesn’t care who is buying his feed and mucking his stall. He ran 1 1/16 miles over a sloppy, sealed track in 1:44.09 and paid $8.20 to win. Lone Sailor rallied from last to finish third.
Ballard High broke down suddenly past the half-mile pole and was pulled up and vanned off the course.
Pioneer Spirit is a 6-year-old horse by Malibu Moon out of Hafifah, by Machiavellian. He’s owned by Lawrence Roman, Heads Up Racing, and Lucky Dog Stable.
