LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The temptation was to think Nates Mineshaft was only effective at Fair Grounds, a horse whose meteoric rise from obscure claimer to multiple graded stakes winner coincided with racing over the same racetrack.
After four spectacular wins at Fair Grounds, including a New Orleans Handicap romp in which he earned a gaudy 113 Beyer Speed Figure, Nates Mineshaft thudded back to Earth when shipping north to Churchill Downs for the Alysheba on the May 4 Kentucky Oaks undercard and getting beat 20 lengths by Successful Dan.