Copper Tax visits the winner’s circle (Photo courtesy of Delaware Park)
Chris Sobocinski/Delaware Park
WILMINGTON, Del.— Rose Petal Stable’s Copper Tax notched his third consecutive victory in the Delaware-bred or certified $100,450 First State Dash at Delaware Park today.
With Delaware Park leading rider Jamie Rodriguez aboard, the 2-year-old son of Copper Bullet scored a 3 ¾-length victory and returned $2.80 as the favorite in the field of eight. Sharp Tones, with Carol Cedeno, finished second. It was another 5 ¼-lengths farther back to Finicky, with Joseph Trejos, in third. The final time for the six furlongs was 1:11.31 over a muddy track.
In his career debut, Copper Tax finished second beaten a neck on June 10 at Delaware Park. Since then, the Kentucky-bred trained by Gary Capuano has reeled off three straight victories by a combined margin of 16-lengths going short at Delaware Park. With the First State Dash, he raised his career earnings to $120,000. He was certified at Marlyn Meadow in Middletown, Delaware.
“He finishes strong and he really finished strong today,” said winning trainer Gary Capuano. “It has been my feeling all along that he will stretch out because going short you kind of got to rush him early to keep him in contention. If he runs long, he will get a chance to relax a little and you will not have to pressure him. I think he will go two turns, but we will see. He has run four pretty good races fairly quick, so we will see how he comes out of the race and go from there.”
