Danjer concluded his 6-year-old campaign with a three-quarter length victory in Saturday's Grade 1, $309,000 Championship at Sunland Park.
Owned by Downtime Enterprises LLC, Billy G. Smith, and trainer Dean Frey and aided by a reported 15-mph tail wind, Danjer covered 440 yards in :20.620 while recording a 120 speed index. James Flores rode the gelded son of champion Fdd Dynasty.
Danjer was bred in Oklahoma by Frey, and he was just three weeks removed from his second-place finish, 1 1/4 lengths behind winner Empressum, in Quarter Horse racing's richest and most prestigious race for older runners, the 440-yard, $750,000 Champion of Champions (G1) at Los Alamitos. The gelding has won 20 of 33 races — including 16 of 23 at the classic quarter-mile distance — and the $157,000 winner's share of the purse from his 15th career stakes victory bumped his lifetime earnings to $2,244,068.
Danjer's 10 career Grade 1 wins include this year's 440-yard, $300,000 Albuquerque Fall Championship (G1) at Albuquerque Downs, 440-yard, $250,000 Debbie Schauf Remington Park Championship (G1) at Remington Park, and 440-yard, $270,000 Bank of America Challenge Championship (G1) at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
KJ Desparado finished second while banking the $70,000 runner-up share of the purse. The gelding's career bankroll totals $2,776,103, placing him second, just $5,262 behind Ochoa ($2,781,365) on the sport's all-time leading earners list.
Flash Bak ran third and was followed by Instygator, Hesa Party Wagon, and Political Thinker.
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