BY BROCK SHERIDAN
Classic of Course came from off the pace to engage Roar of the Beast and Steppe at the sixteenth pole before getting a half-length advantage under the wire to win the $70,000 Awesome Banner overnight handicap at Gulfstream Park Saturday. Five 3-year-olds raced a one-turn mile with Florida-bred Classic of Course and Steppe both assigned the high weight of 122 pounds, conceding three pounds to Florida-breds Roar of the Beast and Nothingsubtle and four pounds to Florida-bred Keep on Moving.
Roar of the Beast had a length advantage on Steppe down the backstretch with Nothingsubtle, Keep On Moving and Classic of Course making up the second flight two lengths farther back. After a half-mile in :45.75, Steppe advanced to challenge Roar of the Beast around the turn before Classic of Course began closing in after six furlongs in 1:10.67. Jockey Jonathan Ocasio took Classic of Course to the outside with a furlong to run before pushing to the front to win in 1:37.57 on the fast track. Steppe was second by a neck ahead of a tenacious Roar of the Beast in third. Nothingsubtle and Keep On Moving finished fourth and fifth respectively. McKellen was scratched.
Classic of Course paid $4 to win.
“We’ve been working with the horse in the morning and we taught him a lot. We worked him behind other horses to get him some kickback and let him finish, and that’s what we did today,” Ocasio said. “We expected this result. Thank God everything worked out. At the quarter pole I was still in hand and I felt like I had a lot of horse. I just waited until I got to the stretch and then I let him roll.”
Third last out behind winner Con Compania (Chi) in the one-mile Mr. Jordan overnight handicap at Gulfstream on Oct. 18, Classic of Course improved his record to four wins with three seconds and four thirds in 15 career starts. A stakes winner of the $158,000 Cutler Bay going seven-and-a-half furlongs on the turf at Gulfstream Park in March, Classic of Course earned $41,500 to increase his career revenues to $389,138 for trainer Patrick Biancone, who owns the bay gelding with Amy E. Dunne.
“In the spring, he was one of the best 3-year-olds. We made a little money, but the first time he didn’t run to the level we were expecting, we sent him to the farm,” Biancone said. “We gave him three months rest when everybody else was running, planning to have him perfectly ready for the winter meet.
“I think we’re where we need to be.”
Classic of Course is by Awesome of Course out of Alma Mater, by Honor Code and was bred in Florida by Amy E. Dunne and Ciaran G. Dunne.
Return to the November 8 issue of Wire to Wire
