LEA pushed his earnings above $200,000 when he won his first graded stakes, the 1 1/16-mile Commonwealth Turf S.-G3 under the lights at Churchill Downs. Sitting no more than 1 1/2 lengths off the lead in the early going, this 3-year-old colt by FIRST SAMURAI challenged the frontrunner going into and through the final turn, took the lead as they turned for home, stretched his advantage out to three lengths and stayed in front to the wire to win by 3/4 length. A homebred of Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, and trained by Al Stall, Jr., LEAnow has three wins, a second and a third in five career starts. He won back to back races at Saratoga this summer and placed in the Grade 3 Hawthorne Derby one race back. He is the ninth stakes winner in 2012 for FIRST SAMURAI.
