Twin Creeks Racing Stable moved Law Professor from California because of the greater options offered with more racetracks in the East and Midwest. It proved a good move as the 4-year-old Constitution gelding won his first start for New York-based trainer Rob Atras, taking Thursday's $400,000 FanDuel Tapit Stakes on opening day of the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs.
“It was incredible. I couldn't believe it,” Atras said by phone of winning his Kentucky Downs debut. “I never expected to win first time at that track.”
With Julien Leparoux aboard, Law Professor pushed the pace set by Megacity, with Spanish Kingdom taking over after six furlongs. Law Professor took the lead at the eighth pole and edged away in the final strides from the tenacious Spanish Kingdom, who drew into the race off the also-eligible list to finish second by a half-length at 15-1 under Gerardo Corrales.
“We just thought there were some better opportunities on the East Coast,” said Randy Gullatt, manager and co-owner of Twin Creeks Farm and Racing Stables with Steven Davison. “I thought this was a good opportunity. He was fit and acting like he was ready to run. So we took a shot.”
Atras said he'd always been “enthralled with that place.”
“Watching races, they're kind of wild to watch,” he said. “You think you've got a grasp on them turning for home, but you're not really sure your horse has horse. It's just so different than a regular dirt race or turf race (camera) pan shot.”
Law Professor covered the mile and 70 yards over turf in 1:38.10 after fractions of 22.23 seconds, 44.91, 1:09.00 and 1:33.90 for the mile. He returned $21.10 to win. The $1 tri returned $3,616.72, with the $1 superfecta paying $17,557.72.
“He broke well,” Leparoux said. “At some point I thought I was going to be on the lead. But I saw Tyler (Gaffalione on Megacity) kind of pressuring to be there. So I just took back off of him and followed him around there. He traveled very nice, which is something you really need on this track. I found a spot to get going in the stretch, and he went all the way to the wire.
“I didn't feel like anybody was coming on very fast; we kind of stayed the same. But the main thing was during the race he traveled very nice, where some horses kind of bobbled. He won very nicely today.”
Atras acknowledged being concerned about the pace.
“Turning for home, I wasn't sure if we had enough horse because the fractions looked really fast to me,” he said. “But Julien was really smart and backed off the pace a little bit. He tucked him in and then he went down the rail and then the (camera) angle changed. I thought we had a shot, but I couldn't quite tell because the angle was really tough for me to read. All of a sudden as the camera angle kind of went more to the traditional pan shot, they were still there. Julien was going left-handed and riding him and he was still there.”
California invader Shadow Sphinx and jockey Joe Rocco were another three-quarters of a length back in third, with Floriform fourth. Favored In Love, last year's Tapit winner, finished fifth, followed by Ramsey Solution, Souper Dormy, Skyro, New Year Surprise and Megacity.
Peace Achieved, winner of the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile in 2019, was pulled up on the far turn with a possible non-displaced fracture of the long pastern bone in his left foreleg. He was transported to a Lexington clinic for evaluation.
Law Professor's first 10 races were with California-based Michael McCarthy. Unraced at 2, Law Professor ended last season with victory in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Mathis Mile that came off the turf. In three prior starts this year, he was second in the Grade 2 San Pasqual on dirt, fifth in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe on turf and then getting time off after he was last during a troubled trip in the Grade 3 Oaklawn Mile.
The Kentucky-bred gelding now is 4-1-1 in 11 starts, earning $516,440 with the $237,800 payday.
“He's coming off of a freshener and I think that's what he needed,” Gullatt said. “He was training well. You never know how they're going to handle Kentucky Downs. It's a different turf course. We took the shot and it paid off.”
The Tapit was restricted to horses that had not run a stakes in 2022. Last year In Love used his victory as a springboard to another victory in the Grade 1 Keeneland Turf Mile. Asked if that $1 million race, now called the Coolmore Turf Mile, was in play, Gullatt said, “We were just focused on this race. We'll see how he comes back, and we'll talk with Rob and try to figure it out.”
Betting on the 10-race card was $9,695.501.76.
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