On an otherwise chalky card featuring five stakes, Run Rudolf pulled off an upset in the British Columbia Cup Classic at odds of 7-1, holding off runner-up What’s Shakin by 1 1/4 lengths in the $50,000, 1 1/16-mile race for horses ages 3 and up.
August Rain, last year’s winner of the Grade 3 British Columbia Derby, went off favored at 4-5 odds but faced a rough trip breaking from the rail. He gave up several lengths early as Bold Arch led the eight-horse field through demanding fractions of 23.37 seconds for the quarter-mile and 46.20 for the half.
Bold Arch began to falter as six furlongs went in 1:10.34, and that’s when Run Rudolf began making his move, seizing control in the stretch and overcoming an unsuccessful objection by jockey Kerron Khelawan, who was aboard Diocles.
Run Rudolf paid $17.20 to win and a $2 exacta paid $107.90. Run Rudolf posted a final time of 1:43.01 for trainer Cindy Krasner with Silvino Morales aboard, while August Rain rallied late to get up for third.
The day’s stakes action started in the $60,000 BC Cup Nursery, a six-furlong affair for 2-year-olds, where the 1-2 favorite Twickenham went wire to wire to win in dominant fashion by 4 1/4 lengths. In the following race, the 1 1/16-mile BC Cup Distaff, heavily favored closer Avana overcame glacial fractions to split horses on the turn for home and defeat front-running Air Force by two lengths.
In the Winston Churchill, a 1 1/16-mile route for 3-year-olds, Rondelito silenced his most vocal skeptic – that being his owner/trainer Steve Henson – in destroying stablemate Mount Doom, who finished a distant fifth. Rondelito paid $5.40 to win, edging Accidental Genius by a neck. Henceforth, it’s fair to question whether the pedigree-challenged Mount Doom, last year’s top 2-year-old at Hastings, should focus on sprints.
The most forceful win of the day came in the Hong Kong Jockey Club, a 1 1/16-mile contest for 3-year-old fillies. Here, the undefeated Chi Chi Time, who has barely trailed in her three career races, covered the distance in 1:43.81 under Kuri Powell to cruise to a six-length victory in the first route of her career for trainer Pat Jarvis. Chi Chi Time paid an even $3 to win, while Someday Lady finished second and Sailing Force got up for third.
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