Zverev catches Common Defense in Boone County for first stakes triumph
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Zverev scored his first stakes win in the first running of the $125,000 Boone County Stakes on Saturday night at Turfway Park, rolling past favored Common Defense in the shadow of the wire for a half-length score.
The Boone County, a 1 1/4-mile race for 3-year-olds and up, was a new addition to the Turfway stakes schedule this December and is named for the county the Florence, Ky., track sits in.
A sizeable field of 11 lined up, including Zverev ($16.34), who has shown an affinity for this track. The son of Oscar Performance and Grade 1 winner Balance - the latter a half-sister to Hall of Famer Zenyatta - broke his maiden on this Tapeta track in 2024, and finished fifth in a very strong allowance race behind several next-out winners in March. He was claimed for $40,000 by Mike Maker, for Paradise Farms and David Staudacher, out of a runner-up effort on the Saratoga turf in July, and has won both starts since, taking an allowance-optional claiming race at Saratoga in August and, last out, another allowance-optional at the Churchill Downs September meet, defeating Common Defense.
Zverev and Luan Machado were last of 11 after the opening half-mile of the Boone County, with Funtastic Again, Wakan, and Strong Quality heads apart pushing each other through strong splits of 22.43 and 45.74 on the Tapeta.
Common Defense, under Julian Leparoux, was never far off the pace in the clear on the outside. The field bunched around the far turn, and Common Defense swept to the lead in hand, opening by 1 1/2 lengths in upper stretch. But Machado also had Zverev clear on the outside, in fourth at the quarter pole. With a sustained drive through the lane, he ran down the favorite for the win.
It was 2 1/4 lengths to Safe Trip Home in third, followed by Tapit Shoes, Honor Marie, Genius Jimmy, Prince of Power, Swift Delivery, and then, showing the toll the pace took, Strong Quality, Wakan, and Funtastic Again.
Aided by strong early splits, the final time was 2:01.11, establishing a course record for the 1 1/4 miles on the Tapeta.
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