In stakes debut, G T Five Hundred holds on to take Forego
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G T Five Hundred stubbornly held sway over Its Bourbon Thirty for a head victory in the $125,000 Forego Stakes for older sprinters on Friday night at Turfway Park.
G T Five Hundred ($13.92), who is trained by Mike Maker for Michael Dubb and Douglad Nachman, has now won three consecutive races at Turfway, winning allowance-level events on Dec. 5 and Jan. 7. Friday marked the 6-year-old Astern gelding's stakes debut.
G T Five Hundred, who prefers to be forwardly-placed, was able to take initiative early in the Forego under Fernando De La Cruz, making the lead and rating kindly with Runnin' Rocket on his outside through an opening quarter in 23.01 seconds and a relatively-moderate half in 46.01. At that point, Runnin' Rocket beat a retreat, and G T Five Hundred opened up a length into the stretch. Its Bourbon Thirty, who had stalked the pace and was well-poised on the outside cutting the corner, made a sustained run down the stretch with dead aim but couldn't get by the winner, who kept finding a bit more in the tank.
The final time for the 6 1/2 furlongs on the Tapeta was 1:18.26.
* Following Friday's action, there is a $109,648 carryover in the pick five into Saturday's card at Turfway Park, for which the feature is the $125,000 Dust Commander Stakes, headlined by Encino. There is also a $537,151 carryover which has continued to build in the jackpot pick six.
* Eleven fillies were entered on Friday for the $175,000 Cincinnati Trophy, a Kentucky Oaks points race, one week out. The field is headed by unbeaten Map of the Moon, most recently winner of the Gowell Stakes in January at Turfway; and Coco Connect, who would be wheeling back after winning the Valdale Stakes locally on Feb. 7. Both are stretching out to a mile for the race, which awards Oaks points on a 20-10-6-4-2 basis. The Cincinnati Trophy is the local prep toward the $300,000 Bourbonette Oaks, which awards Kentucky Oaks points on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale, on March 21.
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