In two Saturday stakes races at Hastings, trainer Barbara Heads' two 4-year-olds saw tails in the early going, which was the plan. Avana and August Rain are closers, after all, and they came into the Emerald Downs and George Royal Stakes with a combined record of 13 for 17 at the British Columbia track.
They're now a combined 13 for 19, with the late-rallying Avana coming up just short in her quest to stay perfect at Hastings.
Avana went off as the 4-5 favorite in the Emerald Downs, a $40,000 race whose nomenclature heralds Hastings's closest U.S. racetrack neighbor in Washington state. Ridden by Amadeo Perez, the filly trailed by seven lengths early as Air Force, under the fabulously named jockey Antonio Ambrosio Reyes, immediately seized the lead, setting fractions of 23.41 seconds for the quarter-mile and 47.36 for the half.
It was a lead she would never relinquish, though had Avana started her furious stretch rally a bit earlier she would have won. But a finish line's a finish line, and the margin of victory for Air Force ($16) turned out to be a neck, with Bunny three-quarters of a length behind Avana in third. The final time for 6 1/2 furlongs was 1:16.31.
August Rain, meanwhile, turned in a total dud performance as the 8-5 second choice in the George Royal. A few days before the race, Heads said that, unlike Avana, who prefers to stay out of trouble, August Rain "likes a dogfight." He didn't have that dog in him on Saturday, however, as he started slow and stayed slow, finishing a well-beaten fifth.
As with the Emerald Downs, the George Royal was won in gate-to-wire fashion. Breaking from post 4, the 8-year-old gelding Bold Arch ($3.80) – a 4-5 favorite at race's start – made a beeline for the rail and took the lead. Setting solid fractions of 22.66 seconds for the opening quarter and 46.11 for the half, Bold Arch smoked the field by 2 3/4 lengths, followed, in order, by a trio of longshots in Soaringforthesun, Space, and Diocles, which made exotic bettors happy.
Bold Arch, who races like his name, covered the 6 1/2 furlongs for trainer John Morrison in 1:15.35. At Hastings, on Belmont Saturday, it paid to be hasty.
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