Jockey Dylan Davis earned his second career Grade 1 victory when traveling to Woodbine to pilot West Point Thoroughbreds and Steven Bouchey's Carson's Run in the Summer Stakes for juveniles going one mile.
Carson's Run, a chestnut son of Cupid, was last-of-9 early on, gradually making up ground through each point of call en route to a 2 1/4-length score which produced an 80 Beyer Speed Figure. Piloted by Davis through all three of his lifetime starts, Carson's Run entered from a narrow runner-up effort in the With Anticipation (G3) on August 31 at Saratoga Race Course and was previously a debut winner on July 29 going 1 1/16 miles over the Spa inner turf.
The victory came nearly two years after Davis made the trek to Woodbine to pilot Mutamakina to a score in the E.P. Taylor (G1). Like Carson's Run, Mutamakina also was conditioned by Christophe Clement.
“Christophe Clement and his team have been very good to me, giving me opportunities to get it done, including both Grade 1 winners at Woodbine. I love Woodbine, they have a great course,” Davis said. “Carson ran great. He was able to sit back off the pack off a pretty moderate pace and save all the ground. Once I turned out, he kicked on impressively. With every start, he's been improving. He's learning his ways and learning what to do out there.”
Davis said he has been figuring the horse out through each start.
“Even for us, we're learning as we go because he's still a young horse,” Davis said. “When he gets next to horses or in between horses, he gets a little shy where he doesn't quite level off and use everything he has. We wanted to try to go to the outside and give him one nice run and he ran huge. I think he liked that the best. He was by himself and was able to keep focus all the way to the wire.”
The victory came two weeks after Davis piloted the Clement-trained Parnac to a wire-to-wire upset score in the Flower Bowl (G2) at Saratoga. One week before that, Davis and Clement teamed up to capture the Yaddo for New York-breds with Robert Evans' homebred New Ginya.
“Christophe has been giving me a lot of opportunities on the big stage and I'm happy to be getting it done. We just keep building off of that,” Davis said.
Carson's Run is named in honor of Carson Jost, who was born with the rare genetic disorder Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. Carson is the son of Wade Jost, a former classmate of West Point Thoroughbreds' founder Terry Finley at the United States Military Academy.
Davis said he would like to meet Carson's Run's namesake, possibly when the horse contests the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1)on November 3 at Santa Anita. Carson's Run earned an automatic entry into the Juvenile Turf when conquering the Summer – a “Win And You're In” qualifier.
“Any Breeders' Cup mount is special, but I think we're coming in with a really good one,” Davis said. “It's very special to name a horse after Carson and what he has going on. It makes it more meaningful and special. Hopefully I can meet him at the Breeders' Cup and maybe get it done there.”
Clement's assistant trainer Christophe Lorieul saddled Carson's Run for Saturday's win and praised Davis for executing a quality ride.
“It was a very good race and a very good ride from Dylan,” Lorieul said. “They went a touch quick up front and he was at the back of the pack. The only instructions were not to go in between horses and try to make a clear run from the quarter pole to the wire, which he did. He ran really well.”
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