Who says the top 3-year-olds have to come from Kentucky?
Uncle Heavy, bred in Pennsylvania, rallied in the mud Saturday to edge El Grande O, a New York bred, at the wire in the $250,000 Withers (G3) at Aqueduct.
With the victory, Uncle Heavy banked 20 Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying points in his first race outside the friendly confines of Parx Racing.
It was a Parx day through and through for the team of jockey Mychel Sanchez and trainer Butch Reid.
And it was a rewarding day for longshot players as Uncle Heavy pulled the 9-1 upset.
Uncle Heavy improved his record to 3-for-4 as he moved into the Triple Crown mix. Give him credit for the effort, a determined rally on a wet track that favored speed horses.
Uncle Heavy, a large horse as his name suggests, was three and four wide all the way around before finding his best gear in the shadow of the finish wire.
“He looked hopelessly beaten at the eighth pole,” Reid said. “He’s got a big, long stride to him and finished just the way we hoped he would,”
Sanchez also had his doubts until Uncle Heavy erased them.
“In the stretch, I got a little worried when Kendrick (Carmouche, the jockey on El Grande O) got away from me. Once I went to my right hand, he took off. We always knew he would go long.”
Uncle Heavy’s previous longest distance was a mile, 70 yards in his last race, a victory in the Wait For It Stakes against Pennsylvania breds. The Withers was 1 1/8 miles.
It gets longer, and tougher, from here on the road to the 1 1/4 mile Kentucky Derby.
“Things have to be recalculated after the outcome of today’s race,” Reid said. “We hadn’t looked much beyond this race. There’s no way to get around it at this point. The longer the better.”
El Grande O did everything but win, shaking off relentless pressure from Khanate to pull clear in the stretch only to yield in the final steps.
Lightline, the even-money favorite from the Brad Cox barn, settled for third. Then it was Deposition, Khanate, Speed Runner, Mission Beach, Society Man and Seminole Chief.
Uncle Heavy returned $20.60, $7.40 and $4. El Grande O returned $4.90 and $3.10 to complete a $92.50 exacta.
Lightline paid $2.60 to show.
The time was 1:53.79.
Super Chow shipped up from the warmth of Florida to the chill of the Big A to win the supporting stakes, the $175,000 Toboggan (G3) at 7 furlongs.
It was the first graded victory for both the 4-year-old colt and jockey Madison Olver.
“It’s unbelievable,” Olver said. “I’m kind of at a loss for words.”
The 4-1 second choice trained by Jorge Delgado paid $10.20 for the front-running win, beating Manny Wah by 4 1-4 lengths with 3-4 favorite Kinetic Sky third.
The time was 1:25.10.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
