GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Komorebino Omoide gave trainer Robertino Diodoro his third consecutive win in the Grade 3, $400,000 Steve Sexton Mile at Lone Star Park on Monday when the horse shot up the rail to win Texas’s richest Thoroughbred race by 2 1/4 lengths over This is Uscar. It was another neck back to Heroic Move in third.
Diodoro also trains Heroic Move, who won last year’s Sexton Mile. Diodoro won the 2023 edition of the Sexton with Frosted Grace.
“I really enjoy it here and said that right from day one,” Diodoro said after the races Monday. “A lot of the horses like it here because you can’t beat the surface.”
The Sexton Mile was one of six stakes that made up the annual Lone Star Million Day. The races were worth a cumulative $1.2 million on a 12-race card.
It was a wet morning and afternoon at Lone Star, which canceled training due to serious rains. The track was sloppy and sealed and the turf course was rated as yielding.
Komorebino Omoide ($5.60) hopped out at the start and settled off the pace set by This Is Uscar, who took the field through an opening quarter in 24.04 seconds, a half-mile in 47.52, and six furlongs in 1:12.56 while under pressure from Touchuponastar. Jockey Ramon Vazquez guided Komorebino Omoide to the rail past the quarter pole and the horse went on, covering the distance in 1:38.29.
“I thought he ran incredible for missing the break, and in the mud, and [he] got checked a couple times,” Diodoro said. “I mean, he’s run some tough races – some tough beats in good races. I think this one was his best race by far.”
Komorebino Omoide competed at Fair Grounds over the winter and placed in a series of handicap races, running second to Hit Show in the Louisiana and second to Hall of Fame in the Mineshaft. He came into the Sexton Mile off an 11-length win in the Bosselman/Gus Fonner at Fonner Park.
Komorebino Omoide is a Japanese-bred son of California Chrome who races for his breeder, Perry Martin.
Plans for his next start are to be determined, said Diodoro, who said he would give the horse time to recover before putting together a gameplan moving forward.
Diodoro won a total of three races on the card, including the nightcap, and Vazquez had a four-bagger. The Sexton was one of two stakes wins they had together on the card. The other was with Usually Wrong ($10.60), who rallied for a neck win over Let’s Go Mark in the $100,000 Chamberlain Bridge, a five-furlong race run over yielding ground. He covered the distance in 56.78 seconds. Usually Wrong is a son of Lookin At Lucky who races for his co-breeder, Selman Shaby.
Double for Saez
Jockey Luis Saez had a stakes double on the card when he guided Instant Replay to a length victory in the $300,000 Texas Derby and Mystic Lake to a two-length win in the $100,000 Memorial Day Sprint.
Instant Replay ($3.20) stalked the pace set by Take Charge Tom, who set fractions of 24.03 seconds for the opening quarter, 48.55 for the half-mile, and 1:13.53 for six furlongs.
Instant Replay advanced on the turn, angled out in the stretch, and worked past the Diodoro-trained runners of Itsmybirthday and Take Charge Tom, who finished second and third. The winner covered the 1 1/16 miles on a sloppy, sealed track in 1:45.45.
“When he came into the clear, he made a pretty big move,” Saez said in an interview conducted by Lone Star personnel. “He’s a pretty nice horse.”
Brad Cox trains the son of Maximum Security, who won his second straight stakes following the Bath House Row at Oaklawn.
Mystic Lake ($3.20) broke on top and kept going to win the Memorial Day Sprint, a six-furlong race for fillies and mares run on a sloppy, sealed track. She set fractions of 22.42 seconds for the opening quarter and 45.17 for the half-mile before winning in 1:10.63.
“The inside rail, there was a lot water there. That’s why I stayed off the rail,” Saez said in an interview conducted by Lone Star. “But she controlled the pace, and in the stretch, I had a lot of horse.”
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said last week that the right kind of performance from Mystic Lake could send her to Saratoga for a race like the Honorable Miss. The daughter of Mo Town races for C2 Racing Stable.
Joseph won the Memorial Day Sprint last year with Spirit Wind, who went on to win the Honorable Miss.
* A few races earlier, Blue Light ($31.40) closed into fractions of 22.13 seconds for the opening quarter and 44.92 for the half-mile to win the $100,000 Speightstown Sprint. He covered six furlongs on a sloppy, sealed track in 1:10.82. Rene Diaz was aboard for trainer J.R. Caldwell. Blue Light is a son of City of Light who races for Farms Fillies Racing and Steve Dupy.
* Neom Beach ($6.60) became a stakes winner when she rolled to a 6 1/2-length win over pacesetter Flame McGoon in the $200,000 Ouija Board Distaff, which was moved from turf to dirt less than an hour before the race due to the increasing rain. There were a total of five scratches from the original field of 10. Neom Beach covered the mile for fillies and mares on a sloppy, sealed track in 1:39.36. Erik Asmussen was aboard for his father, owner and trainer Steve Asmussen. Neom Beach is by Omaha Beach.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.