Diamond King Shines in $100,000 Heft Victory
Diamond King Shines in $100,000 Heft Victory
Strategic Dreams Rolls $100,000 Gin Talking Triumph
LAUREL, MD – Cash is King and LC Racing’s Diamond King contested the early pace then came on again when passed by Devine Entry in mid-stretch to forge an impressive 1 ½-length victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Heft Stakes at Laurel Park.
The Heft for 2-year-olds and the $100,000 Gin Talking for 2-year-old fillies, both at seven furlongs, were among six stakes worth $550,000 in purses on the 10-race Christmastide Stakes Day program that marked the final stakes of 2017 in Maryland.
They were joined by a pair of open $100,000 stakes – the Dave’s Friend for 3-year-olds and up and Thirty Eight Go Go for fillies and mares 3 and older – as well as the $75,000 Jennings and $75,000 Politely for Maryland-bred/sired horses.
Favored at 6-5 in the field of six, Diamond King ($4.60) hit the wire in 1:24.45 over a fast main track with Devine Entry a clear second and 22-1 long shot Big Bella Brown third, followed by Laurel stakes winners A Different Style and Whirlin Curlin with Blue Ridge Scout completing the order of finish.
A $235,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton’s May Midlantic 2-year-old in training sale at Timonium, Diamond King won for the third time in four career starts. The only loss came in the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) Nov. 25, when he lost rider Frankie Pennington after clipping heels on the first turn.
“I knew it was going to be tough especially because you don’t know what to make of that last race. Did he get anything out of that? Psychologically you don’t know where they’re at after they get dropped like that,” winning trainer Robert ‘Butch’ Reid Jr. said. “He’s obviously a very smart horse and he just put that behind him and stepped right up to the plate today.”
A Different Style, a winner of two straight capped by the James F. Lewis III Nov. 11, was quickest from the gate and led through a quarter-mile of 22.31 seconds and a half in 45.90 with Diamond King glued to his left along the rail and a gap to Devine Entry in third.
Devine Entry made a sweeping move on the far outside to challenge the front runners leaving the far turn and opened an advantage after straightening for home. Pennington asked Diamond King for more and he responded in kind to retake the lead past the eighth pole and pull clear.
“He was doing it fairly easy. Once the horse outside started backing off, he started playing around,” Pennington said. “When he saw [Devine Entry] come flying outside he was like, ‘Alright, it’s time to go back to work,’ and he came running.”
Reid said he will look to stretch Diamond King, a bay son of Grade 1 winner Quality Road out of the Malibu Moon mare Akron Moon, around two turns in his next start with an eye on the Triple Crown trail.
“We’re aiming that way. We’re taking that progression and if we stumble along the way, so be it. For right now he’s done everything we’ve asked and I don’t think distance will be a problem,” Reid said. “We’ve liked him since the sale and we were fortunate that [the owners] went after him and we got him. We’ve had longer distance races in mind the whole way.”
Strategic Dreams Rolls to $100,000 Gin Talking Triumph
Pick Six Racing, Ian Behar and Theresa Cotrone’s Strategic Dreams sat off a speed duel up front before sweeping to the lead once straightened for home and rolling to a 1 ¾ -length victory in the $100,000 Gin Talking.
It was the third win from four starts and first in a stakes for Strategic Dreams ($6.20), ridden by Feargal Lynch by New York-based trainer Rudy Rodriguez. Enrage was second with Vertrazzo third.
Limited View, the 8-5 favorite off back-to-back stakes victories over Maryland-breds, tired to finish ninth of 10 after forcing the early pace.
Bootsy’s Hadenough and Limited View, breaking from the rail post, battled through a quarter-mile in 22.31 seconds and a half in 45.71, when Limited View began to lose position. Lynch took Strategic Dreams to the far outside where they had clear run down the lane to finish up in 1:24.92.
“There was a lot of speed in the race and we were drawn very wide. Rudy told me to just use your head and use your judgment,” Lynch said. “We just let the speed develop and once we got into the straight she just picked them up. She’s a very nice filly. I like it whenever the horse gets confident, gets to the outside and lets herself run.”
