Red Route One, who had been knocking heads with the top 3-year-olds all year without a graded stakes victory, rallied strongly from fifth with an eighth of a mile remaining and drew away to win the $500,000 West Virginia Derby (G3) Sunday at Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort.
The 3-year-old Gun Runner colt gave trainer Steve Asmussen his sixth win in the 1 1/8-mile West Virginia Derby. It marked the third victory in the race for owner Winchell Thoroughbreds, all of them with Asmussen as trainer.
Ridden by Cristian Torres, who was aboard Red Route One when he finished second in the Rebel Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas, the chestnut colt was never worse than seventh in a race with a fairly quick pace set by One in Vermillion, who fired to the front and was unchallenged for more than a half-mile. West Coast Cowboy engaged the leader heading in the far turn and the pair battle to the wire—only to be engulfed by Red Route One approaching the finish.
Red Route One won by three lengths, while West Coast Cowboy finished second, a head in front of One in Vermillion. Red Route One paid $9.80 to win and completed the distance in 1:49.49.
The Mountaineer main track, which was sloppy to begin the program and switched to good for the sixth race, was clearly favoring horses on or near the lead. Assistant trainer Darren Fleming, who has saddled all six of Asmussen's West Virginia Derby winners, said the surface was a concern.
“We were apprehensive the way the track was playing,” Fleming said. “He ended up handling it very well. “Mountaineer has always been great for us, and the colt had been doing very well coming into the race.”
In his previous start, Red Route One finished a distant eighth in the Grade I Belmont Stakes at one-and-one-half miles after a fourth-place finish in the Grade I Preakness Stakes. Fleming said the distance and the fact “it wasn't his day” led to a lackluster
performance.
Red Route One, who now has three wins, two seconds and a third in 12 starts, became a millionaire with his Mountaineer victory. His earnings now stand at $1,045,125.
Mountaineer this year moved the West Virginia Derby to Sunday from Saturday this year with a twilight post of 5 p.m. (ET). The total pari-mutuel handle for nine races was $2.53 million, up 12% from $2.26 million in 2022 and the highest number since 2015.
The post Former Classics Contender Red Route One Makes The Grade In West Virginia Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
