Tuesday, September 07, 1999
Longshot pulls Mighty upset at RD
Deputy Warlock stuns favorite
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Deputy Warlock, dismissed at 38-1 odds, charged from far back to catch odds-on favorite Mighty in the final strides and win the $200,000 Miller Genuine Draft Cradle Stakes by a half-length Monday at River Downs.
“We're swinging for the fences with this guy,” trainer Ken McPeek said from California, where he saddled Make Your Mark to a fifth-place finish in the Del Mar Derby later Monday.
“We're going to take the same route we did with Tejano Run. From this race, we're going to the Kentucky Cup Juvenile at Turfway Park, Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland and Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Gulfstream Park.”
Deputy Warlock, a $220,000 yearling purchase, is 2-for-2 in his career and has already surpassed Tejano Run in the Cradle. Tejano Run finished second to Peaks and Valleys in the 1994 Cradle.
Tejano Run, however, went on to win the Kentucky Cup Juvenile and Breeders' Futurity before finishing third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and, as a 3-year-old, second in Turfway's Jim Beam, third in Keeneland's Blue Grass and second in the 1995 Kentucky Derby. If Deputy Warlock can better that record, he will be a very good racehorse.
Deputy Warlock's $79 win mutuel was the highest in the 23-year history of the Cradle.
The crowd also overlook jockey Fabio Arguello, 27, who is making a comeback after setbacks that included injuries and the death of his father and grandfather.
“This is an opportunity for me to get back on top,” Arguello said of his first big stakes win since 1997. “He was running green (10th) in the early going. I took him outside. At the half-mile pole, I hit him and nursed him until the final furlong.”
Hall of Famer Pat Day substituted for regular rider Shane Sell ers aboard Claiborne's Mighty, sent off the 3-5 favorite. Sellers had another commitment in the Forego at Saratoga Monday.
“I pressed Mighty on the second turn, and he took me to the leader (Personal First),” Day said. “Then it was a question of how far he would go. After he got the lead, he lost his concentration. He tried to come back on the winner, but it was too late.”
Second choice Personal First, winner of the $100,000 Ellis Park Juvenile, couldn't maintain his early three-length lead and faded to third, beaten 21/2 lengths.
Select Stable's Deputy Warlock's time of 1:47 4/5 was well off the stakes record of 1:44 3/5, set by Cannon Dancer in 1987.
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