Camp Hope impresses in Bryan Station

October 31, 2021

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Walking L Thoroughbreds’ Camp Hope overtook pacesetter Dreamer’s Disease at the top of the lane and cruised to a 2¾-length score in the $150,000 Bryan Station for his second win of the Fall Meet. He won a 1 1/8-mile allowance race on turf Oct. 8, opening day of the season.

Trained by Kenny McPeek and ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., Camp Hope covered 1 mile of the Bryan Station over a turf course rated yielding in 1:38.32.

“I’m questioning why I hadn’t run him on the grass sooner. This horse has really come into form this fall, and I think turf’s definitely all the difference,” commented McPeek.

Dreamer’s Disease had a clear lead over the Bryan Station field through an opening quarter-mile in :24.62. Camp Hope and Hernandez tracked in second, 1 length off Dreamer’s Disease. Following a half-mile split of :49.04, Camp Hope moved to the outside of the tiring pacesetter and spurted clear for a comfortable victory.

“He won on the turf course similar to this early in the meet, opening day; it was pretty soft. My biggest concern was just being from the 11 hole, getting him out of there and getting him in good position under the wire the first time. Knowing the horse, he’s good enough – as long as he got his position early, we thought he was the best horse in the race and he was able to prove it today,” explained Hernandez, Jr.

Camp Hope paid $7, $4.80 and $3.40 for the win. Like the King and jockey John Velazquez finished second and returned $6.60 and $4, while Yes This Time and Tyler Gaffalione rallied for third and paid $2.80.

“He ran really well. I was closer than I wanted to be, and then I dropped back a little bit in the first turn. He got into a good rhythm. He started running really good around the turn and I thought I could catch the winner but the winner just took off. I saved all the ground I could on the first turn but I couldn’t do anything other than go wide on the second turn,” said Velazquez.

A Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale graduate bred in Kentucky by Bret Jones, Camp Hope is a 3-year-old son of Summer Front out of the Pulpit mare Praising. He received $90,000 for today’s win, which improved his overall record to 9-3-0-2 with earnings of $225,557.

“It was a perfect trip. We followed the winner most of the way around; he quickened, and my horse just kind of stayed the same. The ground was getting to him a little bit. Nothing we can do about Mother Nature. With this kind of ground no one is going to go out there blistering, so I thought it would be a pretty even pace,” remarked Gaffalione, rider of third-place finisher Yes This Time.

Kelly Breen, trainer of Yes This Time, said: “When you have a soft turf course, you always worry about the horse handling it and he handled it to an extent, but obviously the winner handled it a little bit better than us. He ran well, and we will send him down to Florida. We know he likes the Gulfstream turf course, so that’s our next stop.” 

Charles Chrome was a nose back in fourth and was followed by Hush of a Storm, Point Me By, Scarlett Sky, Gallant Guy and Dreamer’s Disease. 

Click here for a replay of the race and the post-race interview with winning connections.

For info on the Best Breeders’ Cup Seminar click HERE.

Keeneland Press Release

Photo: Camp Hope (Keeneland Photo)

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