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Weston’s Best Pal Score Gives Trainer Hanson, Sire Hit It A Bomb First Graded Stakes Victories

Chris Drakos and Ryan Hanson's Weston got up in the final stride to triumph in the 50th running of the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds at Del Mar near San Diego, Calif., on Saturday.

The gelding became the first stakes winner for the freshman sire Hit It a Bomb, just getting the best of 32-1 longshot Girther, owned by Altamira Racing Stable. Finishing third via disqualification of the original third-place finisher Ambivalent

Chris Drakos and Ryan Hanson's Weston got up in the final stride to triumph in the 50th running of the Grade II Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds at Del Mar Saturday.

The gelded son of the young stallion Hit It a Bomb just got the best of 32-1 longshot Girther, owned by Altamira Racing Stable. Sonic Breeze was awarded third when the original third-place finisher, Ambivalent, was disqualified for interference and placed fourth.

The 1-2 race favorite, Breeze Easy's Roderick, who had shipping in from New York and was coming off an impressive victory there, failed to fire in the lane and finished last of the seven runners.

“Boy, I had to work hard for that one,” said Van Dyke. “But I'm glad I did. I was happy to win it for (trainer) Ryan Hanson. He's such a kind man and a good horse trainer. And this horse showed some class, too. Ryan told me he never got to paddock him (prior to the race), but he was just standing in there like an old pro. I knew I got there in the end and I'm real glad I did.”

Weston is trained by co-owner Hanson and the bay's score was the first graded stakes win in Thoroughbred racing for the conditioner, as well as his first stakes victory at Del Mar.

“He broke sharp, just like we wanted him to, but then it looked like he just sat there for a minute,” said Hanson. “I got a little nervous when he got shuffled back, but then he got back up there and fought on. The time was not very impressive, but that doesn't matter. I didn't think we were going to win it. I thought we'd be second to the Peter Miller horse, who had had a trip over the track. But I'm just really happy. We'll see how he looks tomorrow and let him tell us what to do (regarding the $250,000, Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on closing day, September 7). ”

Weston paid $12.20, $6.80 and $4.60 across the board and picked up a check for $90,000 from the $151,000 purse.

Final time for the six furlongs was 1:12.72.

The winner was a $7,000 yearling purchase at the Keeneland September Sale in 2019. He captured his only previous start when he flashed speed and tallied by a length and a quarter in a four and a half furlong straight maiden race at Santa Anita on June 21.

The post Weston’s Best Pal Score Gives Trainer Hanson, Sire Hit It A Bomb First Graded Stakes Victories appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Hit It a Bomb Gets First Stakes Winner with Weston in Best Pal

Weston became his sire (by War Front)’s first winner at Santa Anita in June, and the Spendthrift freshman’s first stakes and graded stakes winner Saturday, while also providing young trainer Ryan Hanson with his first graded trophy. The bay defied 21-1 odds to run away with a 4 1/2-furlong heat June 21 over the much pricier Ambivalent (Constitution), and was backed as the best local hope to defeat heavily favored Wesley Ward trainee Roderick (Into Mischief).

Bouncing out abruptly, Weston was shuffled back in the early scramble for position but moved back up to be part of the leading vanguard with Girther along the rail and the chalk three deep. Roderick backed out of it abruptly heading for home, and Weston and Girther battled it out at the top of the lane as Ambivalent appeared a major danger for the stretch drive. Ambivalent shifted in sharply and bumped with Sonic Brees, however, effectively leaving the top two to sort it out. Girther looked the winner until late, as Weston made one last lunge to notch the decision. Ambivalent was subsequently disqualified from third to fourth.

“Boy, I had to work hard for that one. But I’m glad I did,” said winning rider Drayden Van Dyke. “I was happy to win it for Ryan Hanson. He’s such a kind man and a good horse trainer. And this horse showed some class, too. Ryan told me he never got to paddock him [before the race], but he was just standing in there like an old pro. I knew I got there in the end and I’m real glad I did.”

Hanson added, “He broke sharp, just like we wanted him to, but then it looked like he just sat there for a minute. I got a little nervous when he got shuffled back, but then he got back up there and fought on. The time was not very impressive, but that doesn’t matter. I didn’t think we were going to win it. I thought we’d be second to the Peter Miller horse [Girther], who had had a trip over the track. But I’m just really happy. We’ll see how he looks tomorrow and let him tell us what to do [regarding the GI Mar Futurity Sept. 7]. ”

Saturday, Del Mar
BEST PAL S.-GII, $151,000, Del Mar, 8-8, 2yo, 6f, 1:12.72, ft.
1–WESTON, 120, g, 2, by Hit It a Bomb
                1st Dam: Elke (MSP, $122,970), by Dixie Union
                2nd Dam: Call to the Post, by Mt. Livermore
                3rd Dam: Trumpet’s Blare, by Vice Regent
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($7,000 Ylg
’19 KEEJAN; $7,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-Chris Drakos & Ryan
Hanson; B-EVADI Farm Team (KY); T-Ryan Hanson; J-Drayden
Van Dyke. $90,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $120,000.
Werk Nick Rating: F.
   Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Girther, 120, c, 2, Brody’s Cause–Tea Dancer, by Afternoon
Deelites. ($2,500 Wlg ’18 KEENOV; $4,000 Ylg ’19 OBSOCT;
$20,000 2yo ’20 OBSMAR). O-Altamira Racing Stable; B-Farm
III Enterprises LLC (FL); T-Peter Miller. $30,000.
3–Sonic Brees, 118, r, 2, Maclean’s Music–Miss Hetty, by
Congrats. ($80,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-William Strauss, Kyle
Suarez & Darin Tsukashima; B-Springhouse Farm, Olin Gentry
& John F. Goldthorpe (KY); T-Doug F. O’Neill. $18,000.
Margins: NK, 1 1/4, 1 1/4. Odds: 5.10, 32.90, 22.00.
Also Ran: Ambivalent, Schnell, Herd Immunity, Roderick.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

Pedigree Notes:
A winner of both of his Irish starts at two for Aidan O’Brien and owner/breeder Evelyn Stockwell, Hit It a Bomb overcame the 14 hole to take the 2015 GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland. He was twice Group-placed back overseas as a sophomore, is a full-brother to Europe’s 2016 champion 2-year-old filly Brave Anna.

Weston is the 19th graded stakes winner out of a Dixie Union mare. Dam Elke was MSP as a juvenile, and was successful both dirt sprinting and turf routing. Third dam Trumpet’s Blare was a GISW juvenile. Weston has a yearling half-sister by Tapiture and a foal half-brother by Speightster.

Runner-up Girther’s sire Brody’s Cause also stands at Spendthrift and is represented by first 2-year-olds this year.

The post Hit It a Bomb Gets First Stakes Winner with Weston in Best Pal appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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First Winner For Spendthrift’s Hit It A Bomb Comes At Santa Anita Park

Hit It a Bomb, the winner of the 2015 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and resident of Spendthrift Farm, was represented by his first winner from his first starter on June 21 when Weston took a Santa Anita Park maiden special weight, BloodHorse reports.

Weston a bay gelding, got to the lead early in the 4 1/2-furlong race, and finished gamely to win by 1 1/4 lengths under jockey Drayden Van Dyke. Trained by Ryan Hanson for himself and Chris Drakos, Weston finished the race in :52.27 seconds over a fast main track.

Bred in Kentucky by EVADI Farm Team, Weston is out of the stakes-placed Dixie Union mare Elke. His third dam is the Grade 1 winner Trumpet's Blare.

Hit It a Bomb stands at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky., for an advertised fee of $5,000.

The 7-year-old son of War Front won three of seven starts during his on-track career for earnings of $626,476, highlighted by his Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf score at Keeneland. He also won the Star Appeal Stakes in Ireland as a juvenile. The horse came back at three to place in a pair of Irish group stakes races.

A Kentucky homebred for Evelyn Stockwell, Hit It a Bomb is out of the Irish Group 3-winning Sadler's Wells mare Liscanna, making him a full-brother to European champion Brave Anna.