Red Mile: Fear The Dragon rebounds from Little Brown Jug disappointment

Fear The Dragon, who skipped the first week of The Red Mile Grand Circuit Meet after finishing fourth in the Little Brown Jug final, came with a stretch surge from off-the-pace to win the second $206,000 Tattersalls section for sophomore pacing colts on Sunday.

Art Scene (Scott Zeron) would get the lead from the outside post seven, and he would post opening-half stations of 28 1/5 and 56 1/5 with Little Brown Jug champion and 4-5 favorite Filibuster Hanover (Yannick Gingras) riding in the pocket.

Just past the half Blood Line (Mark MacDonald) made a first-up move out of fourth, giving cover to Fear The Dragon (David Miller), but Gingras would pop the pocket with Filibuster Hanover before Blood Line got there, and Filibuster Hanover and Art Scene were side-by-side for the lead at the 1:23 3/5 three-quarters.

Filibuster Hanover would gain control in the lane, but he was under attack from Mac's Jackpot (Aaron Merriman) on the inside, and Blood Line and Fear The Dragon on the outside, and it would be Fear The Dragon with the most pace when it mattered, as he was up to defeat Mac's Jackpot by half a length. Filibuster Hanover was third and Blood Line came in fourth.

"The way the track is playing now you don't exactly know where to be, but he was in range at the top of the stretch," said Miller. "If he is like himself he is always going to be fine. I'm glad to see him come back with a win."

Fear The Dragon is a Dragon Again colt trained by Brian Brown for owner Emerald Highlands Farm. This was Fear The Dragon's 17th career victory, and he has now earned $1,492,782. Sent off as the 6-5 second choice, Fear The Dragon paid $4.40 to win.

"It was a very big win for us after coming off the loss in the Jug," said Brown. "I'm still not sure I have him 100% yet but we'll keep working on him to get him right."