ICYMI: Underdog Winners Spice up the First Stakes Weekend After Kentucky Derby

TORONTO — By Matthew Lomon

Silver and Gold

Silver Knott (GB) came up gold in a stellar 4 ½-length rout of eight challengers in Saturday’s $400,000 Man o’ War (G2T) at Aqueduct.

Closing behind the board’s top choice Nations Pride (IRE) (4-5), Silver Knott (4-1) and leading rider Flavien Prat delivered a textbook performance to capture the 1 3/8-mile affair in convincing fashion.

That’s now consecutive stakes scores for the 4-year-old gelding, who scored the $350,000 Elkhorn (G2T) at Keeneland by 1 ½-lengths on Apr. 20.

Silver Knott has been able to reach the podium at a 78.6 per cent clip, running to a 5-2-4 line through 14 starts. 

The Man o’ War win paid a clean $10.20.

Don’t Stop Twirling

Trivia time! Who said the following quote? The connections for Twirling Queen or Kodos portraying Bill Clinton in The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror VII:

“But tonight, I say, we must move forward, not backward; upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!”

The correct answer is Kodos, but the sentiment also applies equally to Twirling Queen after a hard-fought three-quarter length victory in Saturday’s $225,000 Mamzelle Stakes at Churchill Downs.

The determined 3-year-old filly took bumps from all sides in the early goings before pivoting to the outside and gaining just enough room to steer clear of the pack for a second straight stakes score (Melody of Colors on Mar. 24).

At 10-1, Twirling Queen returned a handsome $23.44.

Embrace the Challenge

New York circuit regular Joey Freshwater (5-2) can now add ‘Multiple Graded Stakes Winner’ to his resume thanks to a narrow triumph on Saturday at Aqueduct.

It wasn’t exactly a low-stress outing, but the 4-year-old was able to steal the $175,000 Runhappy (G3) by a neck over 9-2 foe Ninetyprcentmaddie.

Prior to the Runhappy, Joey Freshwater had mainly competed at the Black Type and Listed tier to middling results. However, in three starts at the graded level, the Linda Rice charge is 2-0-0 (won last April’s Grade 3 Bay Shore).

Playing up to the competition is a winning quality and it appears Joey Freshwater is more than up to the challenge.

The colt’s second graded victory paid $7.80.

Darling Debuts

Gulfstream played host to several professional debuts with its Saturday afternoon Royal Palm Juvenile double feature, but two stood from the rest.

The day got off to a strong start with 2-year-old Bullet in the fillies event. Going off as race 8, the 5-furlong turf contest was on upset watch up until the late stretch, where 44-1 dart throw You Need Me was eventually overtaken by Bullet after leading most of the way.

The end result wasn’t close, however, as the Mark Casse trainee steered clear by 2 ¼-lengths to return a $9.80 payout.

Two races later, in the $110,000 Royal Palm Juvenile, the upset alert never turned off. That’s because 16-1 Gabaldon never relinquished the lead that he picked up back around the 3/16th mark.

The Emisael Jaramillo mount’s stunning effort gave way to a 1 ¼-length win and an even more impressive $35 return.

Not Messing Around

Neither a seven-and-a-half-hour flight nor a five-hour time difference could slow down Pipsy (IRE) on Sunday afternoon at Aqueduct.

The 3-year-old filly made the most of her North American debut, topping the leaderboard in the $175,000 Soaring Softly (G3T) by a half-length over fellow Irelander and 8-1 challenger, Kairyu (IRE).

Facing nine rivals, Pipsy (3-1) didn’t appear to be taking advantage of the extra space in the early going. That changed going into the stretch when the William Walden trainee switched lanes for a clear path to the finish line.

Sunday’s breakthrough represented Pipsy’s third career win across all competitions and first of 2024 (4: 3-1-0 lifetime).

It paid $8.70.