Dashman (center) upsets the William L. McKnight (Coglianese)
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. — Frankly Speaking LLC’s Dashman held on gamely to score a 19-1 upset victory in Saturday’s $215,000 William L. McKnight (G3) presented by Visit Lauderdale at Gulfstream Park courtesy of a well-timed head-bob at the finish line.
The 4-year-old son of Oscar Performance ($40.40) prevailed by a nose over Cash Equity (10-1) to win his first stakes race in the 1 1/2-mile turf stakes for 4-year-olds and up.
Making his first start since finishing seventh in the Nov. 23 Commonwealth (G3) at Churchill Downs, Dashman took advantage of an alert start to drop into third place behind early pacesetter Cathkin Peak and Limited Liability while being well rated by Florent Geroux. Cathkin Peak set snappy fractions under Jose Ortiz, posting splits of 23.35 and 47.11 seconds for the first half-mile before continuing on to complete six furlongs in 1:11.26. Frankie Dettori sent Limited Liability to the lead on the far turn with Geroux and Dashman in hot pursuit.
Dashman kicked in gamely in the stretch to pull alongside Limited Liability nearing the wire before being joined by a late-rallying Cash Equine and Irad Ortiz Jr. in the vicinity of the finish line. A photo finish would award the victory to Brian Lynch-trained Dashman, who completed the distance in 2:24.58.
The late-developing homebred 4-year-old broke his maiden at Ellis Park in July before coming right back to win a Kentucky Downs allowance in September. He closed out his 2024 campaign with off-the-board finishes in the Jockey Club Derby Invitational (G1) at Aqueduct and the Commonwealth.
Limited Liability, the 5-2 second choice, finished third. Bold Act, the 9-5 favorite ridden by William Buick, raced evenly to finish fourth.
Winning trainer Brian Lynch (Dashman): “I had put him on the van at about 7:30 this morning, just hoping that he’d get in and it wasn’t a wasted van ride down here [from Palm Meadows]. I had just put him on the van and they called to say he was going to scratch in. And I said, ‘He’s on the way’ as the van left.”
“He kind of got to sit in the old catbird’s seat and stalk them. Fortunately, he had enough horse to finish like he did. What a photo. Look at that. He’s a lightly raced 4-year-old that can get the marathon trip, so he’s got a lot to look forward to. He had to step up in competition today. He had never run against these kinds of horses. But evidently, he was ready for it.”
“I’ve been lucky enough to win this McKnight a few times before. It’s just a great race to win and we had the right horse today.”
Winning jockey Florent Geroux (Dashman): “We had a beautiful trip. I was able to sit behind the two horses, I looked up at the screen and saw the fractions, and I wanted to be sure I was not too far ahead of the group of horses behind me. I wanted to keep my horse in a good rhythm. The horse was very brave, very tough. He was able to fight down the lane. But no, I was not sure we had won.”
