Steady Warrior overcomes poor start to take Tri-State Futurity

Here’s how superior Steady Warrior was to his competition in Saturday night’s $122,475 Tri-State Futurity. He stumbled coming out of the gate and went to his knees, yet not only fully recovered but sped to a 1 1/4-length victory over stablemate Bumpy Road in the seven-furlong race at Charles Town restricted to 2-year-olds foaled in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Trained and partially owned by Laurel Park-based Gary Capuano, Steady Warrior ($2.20) has now won 3 of 4 lifetime starts. His sire, Cherokee’s Boy, won the 2002 Tri-State Futurity and is now just the third horse to win the race and sire a Tri-State Futurity winner. The winning time was 1:30.68.

Bumpy Road, coming off a win in a maiden claiming race at Laurel, finished 1 ¼ lengths clear of the third-place finisher, first-time starter Slew of Bullets.