Wyatt’s Town toyed with his King Corrie stakes rivals en route to victory in his Woodbine debut in the $100,000 six-furlong sprint for sophomores on Saturday afternoon.
With Eurico Rosa Da Silva aboard for the first time, Wyatt’s Town opened up a quick four-length lead on his foes out of the gate and when the field caught up to him down the backstretch, he dashed away again. The colt, who set fractions of :22.25 and :44.67, then held off the late-closing Hemp Hemp Hurray by one length for the victory in 1:09.73.
“He ran very big,” said Da Silva after the race. “When he left the gate, I was lucky I had a good hold of him because he stumbled a little bit. But he’s so quick, even though he stumbled, he was already clear in front of everybody. A very fast horse.”
Wyatt’s Town is trained by Norm McKnight, who recognized potential upside in the Kentucky-bred son of Speightstown while looking for a young horse at Churchill Downs for owners Henley Thoroughbreds Ltd. and Newtop Stables. Formerly trained by Steve Asmussen, Wyatt’s Town was claimed for $50,000 on May 17 at Churchill, where he won back-to-back races. The colt now boasts three straight wins and has finished no worse than third in nine career starts.
Sent postward as the heavy 3-5 favourite, Wyatt’s Town paid $3.30, $2.30 and $2.20. He combined with second choice Hemp Hemp Hurray ($2.80, $2.40) for a 5-1 exacta worth $9.80. Run Away ($3.80) followed in third to complete a 5-1-7 trifecta worth $26.10 for a $1 ticket. With Souper Smart finishing fourth, a $1 superfecta of 5-1-7-3 returned $99.20.
Blueblood, Stormfuhr and Be Vewy Vewy Quiet completed the order of finish.
More from Canadian Thoroughbred:
