Relish the Ride breaks through in Catlaunch Stakes

After knocking on the door several times, Relish the Ride secured his first stakes victory Thursday in the $75,000 Catlaunch Stakes for Ohio-accredited runners at Thistledown.

Relish the Ride ($10.60), a 3-year-old Mobil gelding trained by Jeff Radosevich for Aurora Racing, has not missed the board this year. After a pair of allowance wins to start this season, he was second by a neck in the George Lewis Memorial Stakes, third by a half-length in the Buckeye Native Stakes, and second by three-quarters of a length in the Horizon Stakes. After getting back in the win column with an allowance score Sept. 6 at Thistledown, Relish the Ride stepped up again in the Catlaunch.

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Relish the Ride saved ground in fourth down the backstretch of the 1 1/16-mile race, about two lengths back, as First Song took the field through an opening half in 48.06 seconds. Luis Rivera continued to bide his time on Relish the Ride before angling him out for clear running in the stretch. The gelding quickly struck the front and drew off to win by five lengths.

The final time for the 1 1/16 miles over a track rated good was 1:46.44.

Authentic Cowtown, who had been stalking the pace near Relish the Ride, was up for second by a head over the pace-pressing Romantic Cowboy. They were followed by Firsthand Justice, favored Big Truck, Mobil Solution, Manga Man, Pat's Karma, Speedy Mobile, and First Song.

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