Sharons Beach pulls perfect trip to win St. Louis Derby
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Sharons Beach made the most of her stakes debut in the $250,000 St. Louis Derby at Fairmount Park, pulling off a 9-1 upset with a perfect trip under jockey Rajiv Maragh. The slowly improving gelding had never run in a dirt route while shipping around the country, but he shot up the 3-year-old ranks with a massive breakthrough on Saturday.
Since earning his maiden victory at Santa Anita in February, trainer Jonathan Thomas has shipped Sharons Beach to Kentucky, Indiana, New York, and Illinois. As a 3-year-old, he has not finished worse than second in seven starts while working his way up to stakes company.
Thomas entered him in seven straight races between six and seven furlongs on dirt, but the trainer chose to step him up to the 1 1/16-mile St. Louis Derby after winning a $75,000 starter/optional-claiming race at Saratoga earlier this month. Listed at 15-1 on the morning line, he was bet down to 9-1 and paid $21.80 to win.
Though he had gone to the lead in two of his last three starts while sprinting, Sharons Beach did not vie for the early lead under Maragh. Instead, the 12-1 longshot Wonder Mist and 8-5 co-favorite Blackout Time did the work out in front, dueling well off the rail through an opening quarter-mile in 24.03 seconds and half-mile in 48.13.
Creole Chrome and the longshot Illini Red scratched from the St. Louis Derby, making the slow fractions all the more impactful on the shortened field of six. Hedge Ratio, the 8-5 second favorite trained by Wesley Ward, started well back and was never involved.
Sharons Beach, on the other hand, could not have been in a better position on the early going, settling into third on the rail around the first turn. Maragh sensed an early opportunity and tipped her out several paths on the backstretch to advance on the front-runners. The Hell We Did, who had been stalking to his outside, did not follow him from fourth.
By the time the field hit the far turn, Sharons Beach was a surging member of the top flight, advancing five wide to draw alongside Wonder Mist, who was just outside of the ground-saving favorite Blackout Time. The three runners hit the stretch on roughly even terms, with Sharons Beach poking a head in front. Wonder Mist and jockey E.T. Baird continued to battle on between horses, while Blackout Time and Emmanuel Esquivel tried to make the most of their track position toward the inside.
All three 3-year-olds showed a great deal of heart in a game stretch run, but in the end, the best trip made the difference. Sharons Beach kept moving forward under Maragh and edged clear to win by a half-length. He completed the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:46.17.
Wonder Mist, who might have been pegged as Ward’s pacesetter for Hedge Ratio, dug in between foes and took second by a half-length over Blackout Time, who has still not won a stakes but was far from disgraced in his attempt at Fairmount. The Hell We Did never managed to improve from fourth and finished three-quarters of a length behind Blackout Time.
Earlier this month, Thomas took advantage of a similar 3-year-old stakes when Zihnal improved to win the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Park. The trainer said he was grateful for that race, which gave his late-blooming 3-year-old a spot to break through. It seems the trainer has been blessed by more than one that matches that description.
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