The Champagne was ran on Oct 10th at Belmont. It was an 8 furlong race.
Table of Contents
The Start
The start of the race seemed pretty good across the board. Civil War and Run Casper Run both were slow at the start and quickly settled a few lengths off the lead. Jackie’s Warrior took an early lead due to a great start. He quickly settled about a length in the lead. Reinvestment Risk and Midnight Bourbon were right on his tail.
The Backstretch
On the backstretch, Jackie’s Warrior started separating himself from the rest of the field by about a length and a half. The horses that had a slow start slowly brought the field a little closer together. Towards the end of the backstretch the gap from first to last was closer to 4.5 to 5 lengths compared to the beginning of the backstretch it was 5.5-6 lengths.
Turn for home
I love the turn for home. This one was pretty exciting. Reinvestment Risk made his bid for the lead on the turn. He tried to go wide to get past Jackie’s Warrior. Midnight Bourbon also came outside to make his bid too. He was what looked like 5 or 6 wide on the turn when he started his kick. Ambivalent had a great effort on the turn for home. He ran like he was going to have a solid chance for 3rd.
Homestretch
For a hot minute, I thought Reinvestment Risk was going to make a successful bid for the lead. I was wrong. With about 1/16th to go, Jackie’s Warrior breaks clear to have a commanding lead and victory over the rest of the field. I always get anxious when I watch wire to wire wins because I just think the horse is going to tire out and end up losing. Not this time. Jackie’s Warrior took off in style when he was challenged and did a good job.
Ambivalent slowed down dramatically once he realized he didn’t have a shot. I’d like to assume that was by the jockey’s design. I guess we’ll have to see how he’ll do in future races.
What Stuck Out
Jackie’s Warrior seemed to run effortlessly on this race. There wasn’t a battle for 1st besides a small one from Reinvestment Risk. He was just the best horse on that day. I can’t chalk it up to a track bias because there were only 6 horses in the field and they were fairly spread out so no one was stuck on the 4 or 5 path on the turn. He was just better. The betting public thought so since he was the favorite only paying $3.70. Reinvestment Risk was the betting public’s 2nd pick and he finished 2nd.
Midnight Bourbon had a strong bid on the outside on the turn for home. He’ll be worth considering as a value horse on upcoming bets. Since the PP’s won’t really give him justice for being so far out. Even if he was on the inside, he’s probably still finished 3rd, but it would have been a lot closer.