Dragoon Guard was on a mission from the start and never wavered from his plan, scoring the win Saturday in the 30th running of the Grade 3 $300,000 Indiana Derby at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
Dragoon Guard was on a mission from the start and never wavered from his plan, scoring the win Saturday in the 30th running of the Grade 3 $300,000 Indiana Derby at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
The win with Dragoon Guard gives trainer Brad Cox back-to-back victories in the race after winning the 2023 edition with Verifying.
Around the final turn, Informed Patriot and Ricardo Santana Jr. were the first to advance to challenge, but Dragoon Guard was strong on the front end, leading the way into the stretch. Dragoon Guard had several lengths on the field midway through the stretch and was untouchable by Stronghold and Antonio Fresu, the only horse making up any ground toward the leader.
The flashy grey colt charged home by two and one-half lengths for the win over Stronghold. Informed Patriot finished third.
“He broke good, made the lead, relaxed for me nicely on the first turn,” said Geroux, who scored his third Indiana Derby win. “He set reasonable fractions, and just kept on going. First try at two turns, it was the right move.”
Favored Stronghold turned in a great performance since running in the Kentucky Derby in early May. Fresu noted the Grade 1 winner of the Santa Anita Derby turned in a solid performance.
“He (Stronghold) ran a good race,” said Fresu. “I think the winner (Dragoon Guard) is a very good horse, a very good horse in the making. I didn’t have the best trip because he broke well, and my intention was not to go. When I tried to set him down, he was really keen behind the horses. But then he relaxed really well and picked it up. I was trying to chase the winner but there was no challenge. The winner was too good today.”
Dragoon Guard paid $5.80 as one of the favorites in the field. The lightly-raced son of Arrogate was making his first appearance in stakes action. The Graded Stakes winner is owned by Juddmonte and trained by Brad Cox. Juddmonte also bred and raised the colt.
“He ran well. I thought Florent did a good job of getting him away and getting him involved and taking control of the race. Look, based off pedigree and his physical, he’s bred to be a two-turn, mile-and-an-eighth and farther type horse,” said Cox. He stepped up today in his first start around two turns and ran well. He ran a really good race against a really good horse of Steve Asmussen’s last year in September. He came out of the race just not quite as well as we needed him to.
“We gave him time off, he came back, and he was definitely a bigger, better stronger version of himself. The way he looks, and the way he trains and just his attitude, he’s probably a horse that’s meant to be better as he gets older. He’s obviously really stepped up this year going 3-for-3. We’re excited about him long term.”
Dragoon Guard becomes only the second grey horse to win the Indiana Derby in 30 years. He joins 2016 winner Cupid as a winner of Indiana’s biggest horse race. Dragoon also remains undefeated in three starts for 2024 and three for four overall. The sophomore colt more than doubled his career earnings in the race and now has in excess of $335,000 on his card.
Indiana Oaks
Grade 2 stakes-winner Chatalas (photo, right) was the most accomplished filly heading into Saturday’s $200,000 Grade 3 Indiana Oaks at Horseshoe Indianapolis. However, you wouldn’t have known that by her odds, the public sending her off at almost 11-1 odds in the field of six 3-year-old fillies.
But at the wire, that was front-running Chatalas prevailing by a head over 9-1 Little Jamie, with odds-on favorite Impel another half-length back in third. Those who believed in Chatalas — unfazed by her six-month layoff and double-digit defeats in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and Los Alamitos Starlet (G2) — were rewarded with a $23.80 win mutuel.
The victory was particularly meaningful for Louisville-based trainer Grant Forster, who received Chatalas only a few weeks ago. Her California trainer Mark Glatt and owner Joseph Miller’s Rancho Temescal Thoroughbred Partners wanted to pursue the East’s more plentiful graded-stakes opportunities for 3-year-old fillies on dirt.
“Certainly where you’re in a situation like this, where you’re the place-keeper and trying to keep everything rolling, you feel a little bit of pressure,” Forster said. “Just really glad she broke well. When she made the lead, I felt really good. She’s got a lovely long stride. When she got into that stride down the backside, it looked like she was just cruising. Turning for home, it looked like she lost the lead there for a little bit, but she showed some real fight.”
Antonio Fresu, a fourth-generation jockey from Italy now based in California, was riding in Indiana for the first time. His game plan was channeling Chatalas’ Chandelier — her Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes victory at Santa Anita on Oct. 7, when she also led all the way.
“The track is playing fast,” Fresu said. “I tried to reproduce the Chandelier when I won that on her last year. Same gate, made the lead, she relaxed really well on the backside. When I asked to pick it up, she wasn’t ready when the other opponent came to me. So, I just tried to get her into her stride again, and she fought really hard to the end. She just wanted to win. She was all game today, in great shape. She was nice and fresh. She always showed talent, and we always thought she was a nice filly. And she’s showing us what she’s made of.”
Little Jamie, with Corey Lanerie riding for trainer Robbie Medina, turned in a huge effort in her stakes debut after most recently finishing third in a Churchill Downs’ entry-level allowance race. Little Jamie applied the most pressure on Chatalas, getting in front briefly at the stretch call.
“As soon as I said to myself, ‘I’m about to win it,’ then it was like, ‘oh, crap,’” Lanerie said. “I thought I put that horse away, and she never went away. She just grinded back to me. I couldn’t ask for a better trip. It drew up the way we thought. We just got beat.”
Chatalas now is 3-1-1 in seven starts, earning $370,000 with the $118,800 paycheck.
Record-setting handle
Dragoon Guard and Chatalas highlighted a record setting day for Horseshoe Indianapolis. Both on track handle was up year over year compared to 2023, which was a record setting year. Total handle from all sources on the day exceeded $8.147 million, a new track record for handle compared to $7.98 million wagered last season.
More than $1.1 million alone was wagered on the Indiana Derby during the 12-race card.
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