Capilano Canyon had a perfect trip in winning the $75,000 Ascot Graduation at Hastings Monday. Ridden by Jose Asencio, the 2-year-old rallied for a 2 1/2 length win over front running Batkura in the 1 1/16 miles race. He ran the distance in 1:45.41.
Capilano Canyon had finished third in the Jack Diamond Stakes behind Baktura but that winner was disqualified.
The British Columbia-bred son of Abraaj from the multiple stakes winning mare Remarkable Miss by Finality is trained by David Forster. He races for Karl Chan, Forster Stable, and Cameron Hill.
NIGEL REID has a recap of Monday’s races :
While racegoers were arguing the merits of Baktura’s disqualification from last month’s Jack Diamond Futurity Stakes, there were other runners in the race that day with hard luck stories of their own, and points to prove.
Capilano Canyon, mightily impressive on his winning racetrack debut in June, and promising again in the CTHS Sales Stakes on his comeback from injury in August, found trouble at pretty much every turn in the Jack Diamond but still finished with a wet sail to take third behind Baktura and Synergy.On Sunday, the son of the late Washington sire Abraaj renewed rivalry with his two foes and found the extra couple of furlongs far more to his liking. In addition, a trouble-free passage under the in-form Jose Asencio saw the speedster quicken up nicely at the home turn to collar the long-time leaders Baktura and Turntheclocktozero – sweeping two wide to win in authoritative style.
The race set up nicely for Asencio, who was able to bide his time behind the young tearaways in front before launching his attack.
“I saw the horses go to the front and was happy to sit and wait,” he said afterwards.
There is always an element of doubt about going longer for the first time but for hall of fame trainer Dave Forster, any concerns he may have had were of the miniscule variety.
“I never had a doubt he’d be suited by the distance,” he said.Owned by Karl Chan, Cameron Hill Mortgages and Forster Stable, Capilano Canyon’s win franked him as among the very best juvenile boys at Hastings this season.
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