Smokin' T gets up at the wire for Appleton victory

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - In a frenetic finish to the wire, it was Smokin’ T who split horses late under John Velazquez and got up in the final jump to nail Saratoga Flash and win the $150,000 Appleton Stakes by a head at Gulfstream Park on Saturday.

Saratoga Flash was a neck better than Tidal Forces, who was a nose in front of Quality G, who was a neck in front of Never Surprised. The top eight finishers in the 10-horse field were separated by 1 3/4 lengths.

It was the mastery of Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez that helped Smokin’ T get the victory. Down the backstretch, Smokin’ T was fifth, three lengths off the early lead set by Big Everest and pursued by Never Surprised and Ice Chocolat.

Churchtown made a big four-wide move around the far turn while Velazquez kept Smokin’ T behind horses and awaited room.

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While Ice Chocolate got stymied between horses, Velazquez was able to find some room and get through a narrow opening as he out finished an inside-rallying Saratoga Flash under Edgard Zayas.

“There was a little room there, I poked his had through there and I got after him and he responded,” Velazquez said. “Sometimes you have the horse to do it, when you don’t you can’t do it, but he responded and got the spot. Once I got the spot I was okay.”

The victory was the sixth win from 20 starts for Smokin’ T, a 5-year-old son of War Front owned by DATTT Stable of Diana Ryan and trained by Shug McGaughey. It also enabled him to bounce back from a seventh-place finish in the Grade 3 Canadian Turf here four weeks earlier.

“The other day he was kind of keen,” McGaughey said. “Today he shipped down here, he settled in the barn, he went to post settled, he settled in the way I wanted him to in behind the speed, and it gave him some finish.”

Smokin’ T covered the mile in 1:33.33 and returned $11.70 to win.

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