Rallying from far back under Javier Castellano, Klaravich Stable's Irish-bred Digital Age ran down pace-setting Factor This to win the Grade 1, $1-million Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic by three-quarters of a length on Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., giving trainer Chad Brown back-to-back victories in the Kentucky Derby day grass fixture for older runners.
Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar won the 2019 renewal.
Factor This, trained by red-hot Brad Cox, held second after controlling the pace through fractions of :23.24, :47.17 and 1:11.16. Brown's two other runners in the race, Irish-bred Rockemperor and French-bred betting favorite Sacred Life, finished third and fourth, respectively.
Digital Age covered the nine furlongs on firm turf in 1:47.79 and paid $19.20.
Castellano took ahold of Digital Age shortly after the start, allowing the 4-year-old colt by Invincible Spirit to race near the back of the pack while saving ground. Factor This was engaged by True Valour and Spectacular Gem in the run down the backstretch, but shook free from those two under Shaun Bridgmohan and set sail for home.
Castellano gained ground moving into the final turn, swung Digital Age toward the outside turning into the stretch and ran down Factor This in the final sixteenth.
The win was the fifth in 11 career starts for Digital Age but first in a G1 stakes. His only previous graded stakes win came over the same grass course in the G2 American Turf on the 2019 Kentucky Derby day program.
Out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare, Willow View, Digital Age was bred in Ireland by Merry Fox Stud Limited.
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