Slip the Cable cruises in West Virginia Breeders' Classic

Slip the Cable skipped over the slop Saturday night at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Race Track and cruised to a front-running 7 1/2-length win in the $450,000 West Virginia Breeders’ Classic.

Slip the Cable broke from post 2 and came through inside Ello Govna to set splits of 23.66 for his first quarter-mile, 47.88 for the half, and 1:12.86 for his first six furlongs. Ello Govna lost touch before the race’s last of three turns as Slip the Cable dashed clear, finishing with such verve that his nearest pursuer, 6-5 favorite Charitable Annuity, actually lost ground the last half-furlong.

Slip the Cable, ridden by Arnaldo Bocachica, was timed in 1:50.44 for 1 1/8 miles on a sloppy track and paid just $7 after being bet heavily late in the wagering. Start Line finished third, 2 3/4 lengths behind Charitable Annuity, whose form has not been as sharp the last couple months as when he won this race a year ago.

Two blowout wins last year over the Charles Town strip suggested the wet track surface would help Slip the Cable, the question being whether Slip the Cable, who never had raced beyond seven furlongs and appeared to be one of several pace players in the Breeders’ Classic, could get the distance.

“Stretching this horse out, we’ve been wanting to do it,” trainer Jeff Runco said. “We’ve had seven weeks between his last race and tonight to get some bottom in him and really get him prepared for the route. Once we got him to relax, he ran perfect.”

Runco, the perennial leading trainer at Charles Town, won two other races on the all-stakes card for West Virginia-breds: Spa Creek won the Distaff and Bullets Fever, undefeated in eight races now, won the Lottery Breeders’ Classic.

Four-year-old Slip the Cable, a Coleswood Farm homebred, is by Midshipman and out of the Not for Love mare Hard to Get. He won for the seventh time in 11 races, and the $225,000 winner’s share of the purse was more than double his career earnings before Saturday.

Cavada Breeders' Classic Stakes

Candy Man’s Girl won the $135,000 Cavada Breeders’ Classic Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths over the race’s 2015 winner, Cuppa Mocha Mojo, one of three stakes victories on the night for trainer James Casey. Candy Man’s Girl and jockey Antonio Lopez sat second pressing front-running Navy’s Back before taking control of the seven-furlong race in upper stretch. The winner, a daughter of Charitable Man bred by Casey and owned by his Taylor Mountain Farm, was timed in 1:26.41 and paid $9.40.

Division of Tourism Classic

Romantic Cork ($19.80), who ran for a $12,500 claiming tag in late July, rallied from last of 10 to win the $67,500 Division of Tourism Classic by one length over odds-on favorite T Rex Express. The winner, owned and trained by John A. Casey, is a 4-year-old filly by Denis of Cork.

Nutrition Breeders' Classic

James Casey won his third stakes of the night when 2-year-old Scottish Denis, a 2-year-old by Denis of Cork, won the $67,500 Triple Crown Nutrition Breeders’ Classic by one length over Kathleen Elizabeth.