River Boyne splits horses en route to Thunder Road victory

ARCADIA, Calif. – It took nine attempts, but River Boyne finally beat older horses to record his sixth career stakes win in Saturday’s Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes at Santa Anita.

River Boyne was a five-time stakes winner against 3-year-olds in 2018. At 4 last year, his best results in a seven-race campaign against older horses were second-place finishes in the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile and Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile in consecutive starts in the spring. River Boyne began this year, with a third in the Cotton Fitzsimmons Handicap at Turf Paradise on Jan. 11.

The $100,000 Thunder Road Stakes at a mile on turf was River Boyne’s fifth start since a four-month break last summer. Ridden for the first time by Abel Cedillo, River Boyne ($11.60) stalked the pace to early stretch before taking a commanding lead in the final furlong.

River Boyne ran a mile in 1:33.78 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 99, which equaled his career-best.

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“He needed to be in close,” trainer Jeff Mullins said. “It looked like he had good energy. He split horses and got it done.”

River Boyne finished 2 1/2 lengths in front of 50-1 Camino Del Paraiso, the longest shot in a field of nine. Camino Del Paraiso closed from fifth in the final half-mile.

“He was a good second,” jockey Tiago Pereira said. “I’m so proud.”

True Valour, the winner of the 2019 Thunder Road Stakes, finished third, followed by Kingly, Frontier Market, Majestic Eagle, Ronald R, The Hunted, and Take the One O One. Frontier Market was the 5-2 favorite in his first start in California and first race since a third in the Artie Schiller Stakes at Aqueduct in November.

Kingly set a decent pace of 23.06 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 46.73 for a half-mile, leading by as much as two lengths. Kingly led by a length over Take the One O One with a quarter-mile remaining.

Cedillo moved River Boyne between those two when space developed entering the stretch.

“The horse outside was tired,” he said of Take the One O One. “Jeff told me to warm him up pretty good and put him close to the lead.

“He was pulling me the whole way.”

River Boyne races for Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal, the father and son partnership of Jed and Tim Cohen. A 5-year-old Irish-bred horse by the Mozart stallion Dandy Man, River Boyne has won 8 of 23 starts and earned $971,918.

Mullins said in the winner’s circle that the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on March 7 is an option for a late winter race.