Instant Replay needed every inch of the 1 1/8-mile distance of the $250,000 Super Derby on Saturday to catch pacesetter Perry County for a head win in the richest race of the meet at Louisiana Downs.
It was another 1 1/2 lengths back in third to Fountain Lake.
The Super Derby was being run for the 43rd time. The field was scratched down to five with the defections of Date the Prince and Rolando.
Instant Replay ($3) was the 1-2 favorite on the strength of his form that included two stakes wins, the Bathhouse Row at 1 1/8 miles at Oaklawn, and the Texas Derby at Lone Star Park.
He trailed the field early Saturday, as 15-1 shot Perry County broke sharply from the outside and quickly took command of the race. Perry County put up fractions of 24.26 for the opening quarter, 48.76 for the half-mile and 1:12.74 for six furlongs.
Instant Replay began to pick off rivals heading into the final turn, came into the stretch four wide, and went after the leader. He caught him on the wire, while covering the distance on a track rated fast in 1:50.78.
“I knew the pace was slow early,” winning rider Timothy Thornton said in a post-race interview broadcast by Louisiana Downs. “I found myself kind of boxed up around the first turn, so I knew they were crawling up front.
“[Perry County] was out there loose on the lead, so I figured I better try to get the jump on him now and tipped out at the half-mile pole and pressed along. Definitely had me a little nervous until the last 10 jumps, then I think I felt pretty safe there.”
Instant Replay is owned by Wathnan Racing and is trained by Brad Cox.
Cox said prior to the Super Derby that he believed the race’s distance would well suit Instant Replay and it’s one of the reasons he was rerouted to the race after his connections elected to scratch him from the Smarty Jones at 1 1/16 miles at Parx Racing.
Instant Replay, who entered the Super Derby off a fifth-place finish in the Indiana Derby, became the third next-out stakes winner to emerge from that 1 1/16-mile race. The winner, Tip Top Thomas, came back to win the Smarty Jones at Parx, and the sixth-place finisher, Big Truzz, returned in his next start to take the Ellis Park Derby.
Instant Replay is a son of Maximum Security. He has now won 5 of 10 starts for earnings of $638,678.
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