Sam-Son Farms’ homebred SOARING FREE (Smart Strike), the reigning Horse of the
Year in Canada, successfully defended his title in Saturday’s $113,300
Shakertown S. (G3) at Keeneland. A 1 1/2-length winner of last year’s edition
off a six-month break,
the Mark Frostad trainee utilized the same front-running trip that worked so
well last season to take the 5 1/2-furlong firm turf test by a neck. Settled
about four wide by jockey Jerry Bailey, the dark bay gelding broke on top,
but lost the first quarter in :21 2/5 to Chosen Chief (Marquetry). He would not
be headed at any other call, getting splits of :44 1/5 and :56 before stopping
the clock in 1:02 1/5.
“He is the quintessential warhorse,” Bailey said. “He waits for the
competition, so when the other horse came to us, he was ready.”
Sent off the 6-5 favorite, Soaring Free was returning off a six-month layoff
yet again here and paid $4.60, $3.20 and $3 while keying
the $25.40 exacta and $726 trifecta. Mighty Beau (Rainbow Prospect), who broke
in the air before taking up position along the inside, came out seven wide in
the stretch and just missed to return $5 and $4.20 at 5-1. Parker Run
(Glitterman), another half-length farther back in third, was worth $13.20 as the
86-1 longshot, and next came Battle Won (Honour and Glory), who ended the nice
$5,985.60 superfecta (4-2-10-9). Completing the order under the wire were Chosen
Chief, Wrzeszcz (Langfuhr), Pomeroy (Boundary), Del Mar Show (Theatrical [Ire]),
Red Lightning (Storm Boot), Relaunch Star (Opening Verse) and Heckle (Hennessy).
Soaring Free was named champion sprinter in Canada in 2003 and champion turf
horse as well as Horse of the Year last
year, and adds this win to victories in the Atto Mile S. (Can-G1), Nearctic H.
(Can-G2), Scotts Highland H. (Can-G3) as well as back-to-back scores in the Play
the King H. (Can-G3) and Ontario Jockey Club S. His line now reads 23-14-3-0
with $1,987,790 in lifetime earnings.
The Ontario-bred six-year-old is out of stakes winner Dancing with Wings
(Danzig) and is a half-brother to Puffin Island (Pleasant Colony), who is the
dam of Canadian Grade 2 winner Shoal Water (Smart Strike), and an unnamed 2005
filly by Grand Slam.