Encino had plenty to do around the far turn of the $150,000 Presque Isle Mile. After a poor break, he wasn’t getting his typical trip, and after six furlongs, he was sixth, nearly five lengths behind Grounded, who had gotten away with a moderate pace.
It was no matter, as Encino, on his favorite type of track, was just too good for his foes. With jockey Flavien Prat confidently handling his mount, strongly hand-riding and only waving the whip alongside a few times while never striking the colt, favored Encino was up for a handy 1 3/4-length win in the Presque Isle Mile.
Encino ($3.20), a Godolphin homebred trained by Brad Cox, has shown versatility, as he won the Grade 3 Lexington on the Keeneland dirt last year and took the Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial on the Horseshoe Indianapolis turf this summer. However, he thrives on Tapeta surfaces, with three wins and two seconds in five starts. His resume also includes a win in last year’s John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park.
In a field that scratched down to eight starters, Encino broke from post 7. The colt, who is typically on or near the lead, broke a step slowly, and Prat immediately reacted by taking him over to save ground. In a short run into the first turn, the duo had found the rail before the bend.
“He broke very poorly, so I went to Plan B,” Prat said. “I dropped to the inside trying to save ground and see if I could make a run. It turned out to be a good trip, he relaxed well down the backside.”
Up front, longshot Grounded, who came in off three straight wins at Presque Isle including the Avery Whisman Memorial, was getting away with tame fractions of 25.15 seconds for the opening quarter and 49.78 for the half, with millionaire Trademark on his outside. The two leaders began to separate themselves into the far turn as many others were put to drives, but Prat appeared to still be biding his time aboard Encino. Approaching the quarter pole, he swung the favorite wide for clear sailing, and it was all over from there.
“Honestly, when I tipped him out and asked him to make a run, he was really there for me,” Prat said.
Grounded held second by a half-length over Trademark. They were followed by Tapit Shoes, Twilight Dancer, The Wine Steward, He’s a Mess, and Anamnestic.
The Presque Isle Mile’s name is a bit of a misnomer, as the race is actually contested at 1 1/16 miles due to track configuration. The time was 1:42.24.
The Presque Isle Mile was preceded on the undercard by a pair of $100,000 stakes for 2-year-olds, with Live Stream ($18.80) upsetting the Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial and Smooch Up ($8.80) narrowly prevailing in the Presque Isle Debutante.
The Dixon Memorial was a family affair, as jockey Martina Rojas scored her first stakes win, piloting Live Stream for her father, trainer Murray Rojas. She has ridden the gelding in all three of his races, and they were coming off a maiden win at Presque Isle in July.
Live Stream and Rojas split horses to prevail in a blanket finish, as they were up by a head over Inmate. The latter was three-quarters of a length ahead of A Million Dreams, who made a sustained rally from last after the opening quarter.
The final time for the 6 1/2 furlongs was 1:16.89.
In the Debutante, Smooch Up got a ground-saving trip under Pablo Morales, split horses to take the lead turning for home, and held off a late run from In Her Glory to win by a nose, finishing the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.22.
In Her Glory, the second choice, had just one horse beaten after the opening quarter – that being favored Kontiki, a multiple stakes winner against her fellow Ohio-breds who was outsprinted early. Kontiki did make a belated run to be fourth, behind the top two and Peach Tie.
Smooch Up was making her fourth career start for trainer Ron Potts Jr. The filly has won all three of her starts at Presque Isle, with her only career loss out of town when she was third in the Keswick Stakes on the dirt at Colonial Downs.
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