There are a range of emotions connections can experience while watching their horse in the stretch drive of a race, and All in Sync managed to elicit nearly all of them in the late stages of the $70,000 Dade Park Dash Overnight Stakes for 3-year-olds on Sunday at Ellis Park.
After snatching the lead at top of the lane only to be caught and briefly overtaken by graded stakes winner Call Me Midnight, All in Sync delivered a gritty counterpunch when he re-rallied in the final jump to get his head down at the wire, giving Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen a sweep of the stakes on the opening weekend of the Henderson, Kentucky track's 100th anniversary meet.
Like the $60,000 Pea Patch Overnight Stakes on Saturday, the 5 1/2-furlong Dade Park Dash was contested over the main track after all races were moved off the turf Sunday following heavy rain the day before. And just as the Asmussen barn prevailed 24 hours earlier with Speedometer, Ed and Susie Orr's All in Sync would also not be denied with black type on the line as the son of Maclean's Music earned his first stakes win in eight career starts.
“I've worked with him since he was a 2-year-old since he came out of the OBS sale and…he's a big boy. He kind of gets cheeky and playful but he's got a great mentality, he's got a great personality,” Marissa Short, assistant to Asmussen, said of All in Sync. “He's a classy horse. He's a feel-good horse but he's a classy horse. He's got a great head on him.”
When the Dade Park Dash was moved to the main track, some key indicators strongly suggested All in Sync was in an ideal position to end a three-race losing skid. Each of the dark bay colt's prior two victories had come at sprint distances on the dirt, including an allowance optional claiming victory going six furlongs at Oaklawn Park on February 11, and with only three other rivals to contend with on Sunday, jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. knew he only needed to stay out of his mount's way in order to ensure they got the necessary set up.
Sent off as the 1-2 betting favorite, All in Sync indeed had a clear trip, rating a close up fourth as Emperorofthedark cut early fractions of :22.84 and :45.40 for a half mile with Sheltowee's Ball rating second.
With about a quarter mile to go, Hernandez let All in Sync start rolling to the outside and the pair overtook the pacesetter before being engaged by Call Me Midnight, who battled on along the fence and momentarily had a nose in front in the final sixteenth.
“Our biggest thing was just give him a good, clean trip,” Hernandez said. “It looked on paper like it was between him and (Call Me Midnight). All I had to do is be a good passenger and let him do his thing. When he put his head in front turning for home, he was pretty resilient in holding that horse off. When Call Me Midnight came to him, he was in for a fight and he knew what he was up to. He ran a big race.”
All in Sync covered the distance in 1:03.43 over a track rated fast as he collected his third career victory while improving his earnings to $220,588. He returned $3.40.
Call Me Midnight, winner of the Lecomte Stakes (G3) in January at Fair Grounds, was 3 1/4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Sheltowee's Ball as Emperorofthedark faded to fourth.
Purchased by the Orrs for $310,000 out of the 2021 OBS April Two-Year-Olds in Training sale, All in Sync was bred in Kentucky by Philip Steinberg and is out of the Girolamo mare System Time.
In the Pea Patch for 3-year-old fillies, the rain that soaked the track Saturday did nothing to dull Speedometer's budding brilliance as the Steve Asmussen-trainee ran off to a five-length victory in the 5 1/2-furlong race contested the main track after all races were taken off the turf due to soggy conditions.
It took Winchell Thoroughbreds' homebred Speedometer some time to figure out the game with the chestnut distaffer losing each of her six starts during her juvenile campaign last year. Since opening her sophomore season with a maiden victory at Sam Houston on January 21, the Tapit filly has flaunted improved maturity to go along with her tactical acceleration as she came into the Pea Patch with a three-race win streak, highlighted by a triumph in the Goldfinch Stakes at Prairie Meadows on May 13.
Confident as Speedometer's camp was that she could handle the turf, adjusting to the Ellis Park grass proved a non-issue when rain prompted the surface change.
After racing along the rail while tracking pacesetter Blazing Summer through an opening quarter mile in :22.54 and a half in :44.95, Speedometer took command around the far turn and opened up daylight between herself and her rivals in the lane, cruising home under jockey Vincent Cheminaud to stop the teletimer in 1:02.95 over a sealed, muddy track.
“It was a really good ride by (Cheminaud),” Short said. “He just kind of put her where she needed to be and just kind of rode the race and it worked out well for us. It's incredible to watch this filly train in the morning and just watch her grow into this really nice filly. Watching her come off the turn, it was just incredible to see. It was everything we see in the morning with her.”
Blazing Summer held for second, 2 3/4-lengths clear of third-place finisher Mystique Saboteur, but was vanned off after the race and was to be evaluated, according to her trainer John Ortiz.
“Unfortunately, she didn't pull up well and had to ride back in the van. She'll be going to the farm for a bit of a vacation to heal,” Ortiz said of Blazing Summer. “But as far as the performance, she ran as well we expected. She's always worked fast on the dirt in the mornings.”
Devine Charger and Sunday Grace rounded out the order.
Sent off as the 2-1 betting favorite, Speedometer returned $6.40 while improving her overall record to four wins from 10 starts with $149,990 in earnings.
Bred in Kentucky, she is out of the multiple stakes-winning City Zip mare Speedinthruthecity, who was also trained by Asmussen and campaigned by Winchell Thoroughbreds.
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