Prado's Sweet Ride cruises to victory in Falls City Handicap

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It looked like Divine Miss Grey was the obvious speed Thursday in the Falls City Handicap, but nope, that’s why they run races on the track and not on paper.

The latches were sprung for the 103rd running of the Grade 2, $200,000 Falls City, and it was Prado’s Sweet Ride – and not Divine Miss Grey, the 3-5 favorite – who had a comfortable lead under the Churchill Downs wire the first time around in the 1 1/8-mile race.

“I really didn’t expect to be on the lead, but I thought we would be close to the pace,” said Florent Geroux, who was aboard Prado’s Sweet Ride, an eventual wire-to-wire winner. “Things worked out well. We had a perfect pace up front when [Divine Miss Grey] didn’t break that sharply.”

Indeed, while Prado’s Sweet Ride cruised through splits of 23.93 seconds, 48.60, and 1:13.17 over the fast track, Divine Miss Grey and jockey Tyler Gaffalione were doing their best to attain a smooth rhythm after breaking a tad slowly from post 1 in the field of seven fillies and mares, putting them behind not only Prado’s Sweet Ride, but also Mannerly and Skeptic. Although Divine Miss Grey was able to save ground on both turns, she never appeared fully comfortable – and once Gaffalione angled her out for the final quarter-mile, she had no punch, finishing 4 3/4 lengths behind the winner and a length ahead of Dutch Parrot in third. Then came Red Dane, Dreamcall, Skeptic, and Mannerly.

Prado’s Sweet Ride, a 6-year-old Illinois-bred mare based in Chicago with trainer Chris Block, returned $13.80 as second choice after finishing in 1:50.50.

“It’s tough taking a speed horse out of their game,” said Danny Gargan, trainer of Divine Miss Grey.

For Block – and for Darrell and Sadie Brommer, the breeders and owners of Prado’s Sweet Ride – the Falls City made for a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Heretofore primarily a turf specialist, the mare now has won 8 of 30 starts and earned $548,914.

“It was a really nice surprise,” Block said afterward from his parents’ home in the tiny central Illinois town of Philo. “I’d been trying to decide on whether to run in the Falls City or the Cardinal [Handicap, which was run here Thursday on the turf]. She’d had a couple of good races [on dirt] some time ago, and she’d been working really well on dirt, so I said, ‘You know what, I’m gonna try the Falls City with her.’ Fortunately it worked out perfectly.”

Block said he plans to race Prado’s Sweet Ride as a 7-year-old but intended to take a day or two to decide whether to send her to New Orleans or Florida for the winter.

The $2 exacta (6-1) paid $32, the $1 trifecta (6-1-3) returned $73.90, and the 10-cent superfecta (6-1-3-8) was worth $34.23.

The Falls City and the Grade 3 Cardinal, won by English Affair, led off the final group of graded stakes at the 21-day Churchill fall meet. They’ll be followed Friday by the Grade 1 Clark and Grade 2 Mrs. Revere, then the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club and Grade 2 Golden Rod on a Stars of Tomorrow card on Saturday. Closing day is Sunday.