It was a good first day of March on Friday for DEMARCHELIER (GB), whose three winners on both the dirt and the turf included his 20th winner overall.
Two of those winners came at Sam Houston with Kentucky Dawn becoming his sire’s 20th first crop winner in the second race.
Racing on the grass going one mile, Kentucky Dawn made sure the race was run at an honest pace while sticking to the pacesetters hip. Proving to be a good listener with Floyd Wethey Jr. keeping him well in hand, he didn’t make a serious move until the stretch.
Kentucky Dawn wore down the leader and was up in plenty of time to win by half a length with the third placed runner watching their battle from over eight lengths behind.
It was the second top two finish for the colt owned and trained by Terry Eoff and bred by Joesph Sutton.
Stakes placed last out, Illustrator took to the track seven races later in a Sam Houston Allowance.
Going off as the heavy favorite, Illustrator took the opposite approach to Kentucky Dawn when second to last early on going the same distance.
It wasn’t until the field reached the turn that he made a serious bid to track down the leader and go for the win. He was in contention as he entered the stretch three wide and after being only a head behind at the furlong pole, started to pull away. The wire saw Illustrator two lengths in front with the third place finisher 4 ¼ lengths behind.
Illustrator has hit the board in all five of his starts with $70,459 in earnings for owner Ron Stolich and trainer Ray Ashford. Bred by Troy Rankin, Illustrator has gone through the ring 3-year-olds and was a $50,000 2-year-old last year.
Wasabi Ventures, Vandelay Stables, and Tomahawk Racing’s Photo Finish kicked off 2024 with a victory and continued that on Friday in a Charles Town Allowance over seven furlongs on the dirt.
The filly found trouble at the gate before settling into a rhythm and stalking the pace. It wasn’t long before she was challenging for the lead and swapped that back and forth with another runner throughout the later stages of the race.
Neither was willing to give in, but Photo Finish proved to be the stronger runner and won by three quarters of a length to take her record to two wins and a second in four starts.
Trained by Jesus Cruz, she was bred by Wasabi Ventures with Michael Dzik and Greenspring Mares.
DEMARCHELIER’s 20 first crop winners puts him in ninth overall among all second crop sires with every horse above him having more runners. He also leads all second-crop sires this year by number of turf winners with his seven four better than the two horses ranked second.