Scotland finds winning form in Cherokee Mile
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Scotland, who has been up and down in a career that began in March 2023, hit a high point Sunday, winning the inaugural $248,500 Cherokee Mile on closing day at Churchill Downs.
Stalking the pace while getting a good trip under Junior Alvarado, Scotland rolled to the lead in midstretch and was going away at the wire, 2 1/4 lengths clear of second-place Injunction. Quality Chic, a 35-1 shot, finished three-quarters of a length farther back in third, with Call Me Fast, crushed in the win pool late to go off the inexplicable 3-1 morning-line favorite, finished fourth, followed by Brunacini, who had upset Book’em Danno in the Perryville Stakes at Keeneland.
Scotland paid $12.92 to win and clocked 1:34.60 over one mile on a fast track. Bill Mott trains the 4-year-old for his breeder, LNJ Foxwoods.
Scotland, gelded long before he made his debut in March 2023, won three of his first four starts, his lone loss in that sequence coming by a nose, and one of the wins a sharp score going a one-turn dirt mile at Churchill, just as he did Sunday. Scotland, in his lone stakes win, landed the restricted Curlin Stakes at Saratoga two summers ago, but failed to land a blow in the Travers and the Pennsylvania Derby.
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Back from an extended break this past May, Scotland lacked the punch he’d thrown at age 3, losing three in a row before righting the ship with a Saratoga allowance win. Scotland managed a modest second in the Vosburgh, ran poorly Oct. 26 in the Bold Ruler, but turned things around on Sunday.
Sitting fourth as Frosted Departure, tracked by Injunction, set a fast pace, getting his half-mile in 45.04, Scotland and Alvarado launched a wide bid coming into the homestretch, surging past Injunction at the furlong pole and edging clear for a decisive victory.
Scotland is by Good Magic out of Gemswick Park, by Speightstown, and on the last day of the Churchill fall meet, he was first across the wire in the Cherokee Mile.
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