Weston gets up late to win Best Pal at Del Mar; Roderick last
DEL MAR, Calif. -- A recent maiden race winner won Saturday’s Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar, just not the one widely expected to succeed.
Weston, the longshot winner of a maiden special weight race at Santa Anita in his debut on June 21, edged 32-1 Girther in the $151,000 Best Pal for 2-year-olds. Roderick, the 1-2 favorite and the easy winner of a maiden special weight race at 2-5 at Belmont Park in his debut on June 21, faded from contention to finish a surprising last in a field of seven.
Weston ($12.20) was always near the front and fought past Girther to win by a neck.
Weston, Girther, and Roderick disputed the pace while separated by a neck through the opening quarter-mile in 22.78 seconds. Roderick led briefly on the backstretch after being angled to the outside, but faded in early stretch under urging from jockey Flavien Prat.
“When I got him to the outside, he ran off on me,” Prat said. “I couldn’t get him to drop the bit. After that it was over.”
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Girther led by a head over Weston through a half-mile in 46.44 seconds and by a half-length with a furlong remaining. Weston, who was ridden by Drayden Van Dyke, caught Girther, ridden by Ricardo Gonzalez, in the final strides to win by a neck, finishing six furlongs in 1:12.72.
Weston earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 61.
The win gave trainer Ryan Hanson his first graded stakes success in Thoroughbred racing. Hanson, 38, won graded stakes with Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos in 2013.
Hanson feared Girther, trained by Peter Miller, would be impossible to catch in the final furlong, benefiting from the experience of a win over the track in a maiden special weight race on July 11.
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“I didn’t think I could get by,” Hanson said. “The Miller horse had an out on this track and that’s huge. It’s deep and tiring.”
Girther was vanned off, and was taken to Miller’s stable, according to track stewards.
Girther finished 1 1/4 lengths in front of 7-1 Ambivalent, who was disqualified and placed fourth for interfering with original fourth-place finisher Sonic Brees in early stretch. The stewards ruled in a majority decision that Ambivalent drifted in and bumped Sonic Brees, costing Sonic Brees a chance for a better placing.
Ambivalent finished 1 1/2 lengths in front of Sonic Brees.
Schnell finished fifth, followed by Herd Immunity and Roderick.
Weston, a gelding by the War Front stallion Hit It a Bomb, was purchased for $7,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He races for Hanson and Chris Drakos, and has earned $120,000.
Hanson said Weston will be considered for the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity at seven furlongs on Sept. 7, closing day of the summer meeting.