Florida’s thoroughbred industry lost influential owner George Steinbrenner last Tuesday, but his horses continue to run for his Kinsman Stable, and at Colonial Downs on Saturday, Florida-bred Vanquisher paid tribute to his late owner with a win in the $50,000 Kitten’s Joy Stakes.
Vanquisher, a 6-year-old, gelded son of Gulch, snapped a 12-race losing skid by rallying to defeat Target Sighted by a neck in the 1 1⁄16-mile race on firm turf. It was his first win since beating Florida-breds in the $75,000 Tallahassee Stakes on the Gulfstream Park lawn in February 2009.
Though Vanquisher hadn’t found the winner’s circle in more than a year, he had run well during that span, finishing in the money six times during his losing streak. He finished third behind El Caballo in the Col. E.R. Bradley Handicap (G3) at Fair Grounds in January and was second to Baltimore Bob in the $50,000 Da Hoss Stakes at Colonial Downs last month.
On Saturday, Vanquisher ran in the middle of the pack of 10 3-year-olds and up as Target Sighted carved out fractions of 25.17 seconds for a quarter-mile and 50.00 for a half-mile.
With Rosemary Homeister Jr. aboard, Vanquisher advanced between rivals while going around the far turn to reach the top of the lane in third place. He then split horses three-wide in upper stretch and steadily gained on the leader, overtaking him in the final strides and stopping the clock in 1:43.81.
Vanquisher paid $7.40, $4.60 and $3.60 as the favorite. Target Sighted paid $10.40 and $7.80 after finishing half a length ahead of March to Victory, who paid $6 to show.
Vanquisher, trained by Dennis Griffith, has won seven of his 31 starts for $312,441. He was bred at Kinsman Farm, the Ocala farm owned by Steinbrenner, best known as the principal owner of the New York Yankees. Steinbrenner died at age 80 last Tuesday in Tampa after suffering a heart attack.
–E-mail Nick Fortuna at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.Vanquisher wins Kitten’s Joy Stakes
– Photo of Florida-bred Vanquisher by Coady
