Monticule’s homebred colt Archaggelos came through between horses in the stretch to win the $125,000 Grey Stakes (Grade 3) for two-year-olds featured on Sunday afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack.
Rafael Hernandez worked out the ground-saving trip in the 1-1/16 mile event aboard the Michael Dickinson trainee, who bided his time in fifth-place as the leaders stacked four-wide moving into the final turn. Archaggelos then split horses down the lane to score the 1:44.56 victory in his stakes debut by 2-1/4 lengths.
Peppered (Luis Contreras), the 1-2 favourite, settled for second after his four-wide rally while Tale of Vienna (Omar Moreno) came on for third. Piven (Eurico Rosa Da Silva) finished fourth over Colin Stakes champion Like What I See (Emma-Jayne Wilson), who had led through panels of :24.44, :49.14 and 1:13.50.
“We saved ground all the way and I didn’t want to go too wide so we just waited for a hole to open,” said Hernandez. “That happened and he went between horses like nothing, he was brave.”
“He gets a little bit nervous [shipping], but I spent a lot of time and our team at home has spent a lot of time trying to get this horse prepared so that we would be successful at a race like this,” said Dirk Crane, assistant trainer of the Temple City-Mien colt, who is a half-brother to 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness champion Big Brown.
Following a maiden-breaking victory of similar fashion at Laurel Park on Sept. 24, Archaggelos is two-for-three to start his career.
“I really liked the ride that we got,” said Crane. “I started getting a little bit nervous just because I’m an ex-rider so it’s hard to tell what’s going on. Anyways, as he was running, I was very happy how he waited and let that inside position happen. And then as he came down the lane, he just gutted through there and went on running like we wanted him to do.”
Sent postward at odds of 9-1, Archaggelos paid $21, $5 and $4. He combined with Peppered ($2.20, $2.20) for a 6-7 exacta worth $52. A $1 trifecta of 6-7-3 (Tale of Vienna, $5.80) paid $301 and a $1 superfecta of 6-7-3-2 (Piven) returned $1,095.85.
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